To Live Again
by lightning-storm
Summary: Before Kenshin's death, him and Kaoru, made a simultaneous wish. What happens now? Reincarnation fic. 20032004. College Years. Ch9 revision! R&R please! Rating to be safe.
1. Prologue

Summary: Kaoru and the rest of the Kenshin-gumi have been given another chance to live, (explantion will be given later) now it's time to cross paths again...  
  
Authors notes: After seeing the ending of the seisouhen ova I didn't know what to say. It was very sweet but sad at the same time. I never thought about making a fanfic or anything out of it, but I figured it would be an interesting try. Thank you so much for co-writing Foxfire9!(And no Fox you can't kill Mr. Watsuki)   
  
Foxfire9: Damn  
  
Anyhow to any readers out there, please r&r and I'm rather new at this, so no screaming that my story sucks or something okay. I know quite well that I can improve in some areas. However, tips and pointers on how to write better or something would be welcomed.  
  
Disclaimer: *looking in pockets* Hello! I'm broke! Broke I tell ya! And I could never come up with such a great story line as the one in Rurouni Kenshin.  
  
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Reincarnate (Prologue)  
  
~(@ Meiji 16:  
  
China had been undergoing serious civil war for many years, and Kenshin knew he had to go to help bring peace back. But before he could do this, he felt he had to make a promise to his long time love, Kaoru.  
  
Kenshin looked up from his place kneeling at the table, a steaming cup of tea in front of him. He looked over her gentle black hair and smiled sadly as she returned the look.  
  
"Kaoru-koishii I am needed once more in the war. However when I get back, my sword days will be over. I would like for you to call me by my real birth name Shinta..."  
  
Kaoru closed her eyes and set her cup of tea down before standing and walking silently to kneel at Kenshin's side. She immediately reached out and took hold of Kenshin's waist, pulling herself close to him. He wrapped his arms around her in return and held her close, his cheek resting against the top of her head.   
  
"Hai, Kenshin."  
  
~(@ 10 years later:  
  
Kaoru woke up slowly, her long eyelashes moving like butterfly wings. It had been a long time since she had heard from her husband Kenshin, but on this particular day she had a feeling something big would happen. She watched as a sakura petal skittered across the wooden floorboards of her room, turning until stopped, swirling momentarily near her hand. She struggled to get out of bed, her body weakened by the disease she shared with Kenshin, to go to see the sakura blossoms in the orchard where they bloomed.  
  
For a few moments she saw nothing amongst the trees. She looked down sadly, her eyes started to water when suddenly a man in a blue yukato shirt with a walking stick in hand shuffled quietly towards her.   
  
"Kao- ru..." he breathed as he took in the view of the woman in front of him in shock before he quickly stumbled to where she stood and fell into her open arms.  
  
"Ta- dai- ma..." he breathed. There were tears in her eyes as she lowered her head to rest against the blood-silk nest of Kenshin's hair.  
  
"Okaeri nasai... Shinta..."   
  
~*~  
  
After speaking about the falling sakura petals, Kaoru noticed that her husband hadn't said a word.  
  
"Shinta? You must be tired Shinta." She smiled softly as she brushed a long stray strand of his bangs away from his scarred cheek only to see the infamous cross shape was missing from his pale features.  
  
"Finally... It's finally disappeared." she said with tears in her eyes, but also knowing that his death was arriving, 'If only -'  
  
Sakura blossoms are pretty when they bloom, but they are even prettier when they fall.  
  
Kaoru remembered the soft words she had spoken once before to him. "You don't have to force yourself to smile in front of me."  
  
Things that happened in the past are like a dream... they will disappear one day.   
  
'If only-', Kenshin thought as he felt death overtaking his senses. He spoke three simple words, but they came out with the greatest affection, love, and gratefulness to his wife for all she had done for him since they first met in the 11th year of the Meiji era.  
  
"...Arigato...Sayonara...Kaoru."  
  
~*~  
  
Kenji looked towards the sweet smelling sakura trees with their pink and white blossoms. His companion looked at him curiously; worry plain in her deep eyes over his seeming deep distraction.  
  
"Something wrong?" she asked in concern, and he turned back to her, a small smile on his lips.  
  
"Iie, it's nothing," he answered. He closed his eyes briefly as he whispered a small prayer in his mind. Sayonara Otoosan.  
  
~*~  
  
AN: So there you have it! The prologue for my fic, I hope you enjoyed it some.   
  
On a side note, I think I have the years from the seishounen all wrong...but I'm not completely sure, please tell me if you know. And remember, please don't be too harsh on my writing...as said before I'm quite new at this kind of stuff. Thanks.  
  
~*~(@   
  
Sayings:   
  
  
  
-Koishii= Dear/Beloved   
  
  
  
Tadaima= I'm home  
  
  
  
Okaeri Nasai= Welcome Home  
  
  
  
Arigato= Thank you  
  
Sayonara= Goodbye  
  
Otoosan= Father  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
Names:  
  
Kenshin= Heart of the Sword  
  
Kaoru= Fragrant Grass  
  
Shinta= Big Heart  
  
Kenji= Path of the Sword 


	2. 2003

Disclaimer: I still don't own Kenshin. (darn)  
  
Some OOC...sorry  
  
Once again, Thank you so much foxfire9   
  
Oh and the drawing idea was inspired by a fic by Chibiangel3- I don't know what story it was though.  
  
( 2003  
  
19-year-old Ariel opened her eyes wide, stretching as she got out of bed and looked over at her alarm clock.  
  
"6 am," she groaned as she turned it off quickly. Her roommate happily burst into the room as she bit into a piece of toast.  
  
"Ah you're up!" cried Kali. "Come on lets go, you have kendo practice in an hour!"  
  
"You don't." mumbled Ariel as Kali continued to pull on her arm. "So why are you up so early?"  
  
Hearts seemed to fill Kali's eyes as she got a far off dreamy look. "I can't miss Aric-sama at practice!" She giggled happily as she thought of him. "His strong body and gorgeous blue eyes, oh if only he would take me into his strong arms and hold me and then-"  
  
Ariel realized just where this train of thought was going and hit Kali hard on the back of her head before she could continue.   
  
"You hentai!" Ariel hissed as Kali rubbed her head.  
  
"Ow! That hurt Ariel! You just have no imagination. Just wait until YOU find someone you love. You'll be just as hentai!" Kali chided.  
  
"Someone I love..." Ariel said as a far away look came into her eyes. "What if I already have someone I love?"  
  
Ariel was so into her thoughts that she didn't notice the heavy footsteps heading towards her room until almost too late.   
  
"The man you've been fantasizing about in your twisted dreams doesn't count Jou-chan." The owner of the gruff voice that replied to her slammed open the door and paused in his tracks. He had no intention of barging in when the girl's were getting dressed when he showed up to pick them up, but now that he had, he found that he couldn't move immediately. He glanced at the two girl's appraisingly, noticing their state of dress, or undress as it seemed, but before he knew it a blur of light skin and dark hair came rushing towards him.  
  
"Gaahhhh!!! Donovan! What are you doing here? Don't you know how to knock?! HENTAI!" Ariel cried as she sent him flying out the door from her punch. She shoved Kali out as well and hurriedly put on her school uniform, muttering curses about perverted men and her love life, or lack there of as it seemed.  
  
"Those two baka no hentai... How do I get myself into these situations?! Fantasy... hah!" A slight wind ruffled a loose sheet of paper half underneath her binder, Ariel picked up the piece of paper. It was a facial sketch of a man, a very handsome man at that, Covered with a midnight shadow. The girl's eyes softened as she caught sight of the sketch she had doodled two nights before and her eyes softened. She hadn't really drawn it on pupose; a brief flash of a person cloaked by darkness, passed through her mind and she started haphazardly making marks on her paper with her pen. When she had finished and looked down at what she had drawn, she had been convinced her writing tool had been possesed. Afterall, she had never really been good at drawing anything before. Mainly stick figures... But this picture...   
  
Ariel gently traced the soft eyes on the man's face as she studied the drawing. The man's face looked real enough to make Ariel believe that he just might blink. The eyes were the only things she had managed to draw perfectly, but in the shadows of his left cheek she saw what looked like an oddly shaped scar.  
  
Kali had complemented her on her skills when she first saw it and asked how Ariel had managed to make it look so nice when had never drawn much of anything else before, but Ariel had no answer for her then, nor did she now.  
  
As Ariel continued to trace the eyes and the scar felt her eyes well up with tears. She didn't know why but as she looked at it, it seemed that a long forgotten wound was beginning to open up. Truth be told she had been dreaming of this man for as long as she could remember. At first she took it at face value but the dreams kept on coming back to her and she began to wonder if maybe there was something else to them.   
  
Ariel suddenly began to feel cold. She looked over to the other side of the room to see if her window was open. She was mildly surprised to see it wasn't and began to get a strange sensation rising up her spine. "What is thi-?"  
  
"Kaoru-dono..."  
  
The girl jumped up and spun around to take in her room, looking for what had made the odd noise. She felt what seemed like an icy finger brush her cheek and the sensation grew. What was that? She searched for anything that might clue her in but found nothing. "Perhaps it was just my imagination running away with me."  
  
"Kaoru-dono..."  
  
It was the voice again and, grabbing it quickly from beside her bed, Ariel swung her kendo stick towrds the direction it was coming from, hitting someone straight in the face.  
  
The spiky haired youth covered his nose with his hand after Ariel removed her stick. "Geez! Me and Kali were just curious as to why you were taking so long," he grumbled. Don was about to leave the room when he caught sight of a pink sakura blossom swirling on the ground. Curiously, he picked up the petal.  
  
"What's this?"   
  
Ariel and Kali looked at what he found and then watched as it dissolved into a light powder and floated out of the room in his hand.   
  
"Okay... Now that was weird." Donovan said, but quickly shook it off when he saw Ariel pale in disbelief.  
  
"Jou-chan?" Donovan asked quietly.  
  
Kali watched, as her friend didn't move. "Ariel...?"   
  
Ariel blinked as her color managed to return and she smiled at them.  
  
"Gomen for hitting you Don, but we better go now. The kendo professor will get angry if we're late." She called as she dashed out the door with Don, her genki friend Kali following happily.  
  
Just minutes before class started they managed to reach the college and part ways. Ariel didn't tell anyone, but the sakura petal and the voice she had heard just moments before seemed to bring back an image of something she had long since buried in the back of her mind. Apparently this showed in her movements, because even her usually cold teacher suggested she go to the nurse to see if she was feeling well while she was practicing. Ariel blushed and shook her head in embarrassment.   
  
"I'm just a little distracted, sensei."  
  
"Well get rid of your distraction," he said in his usual cold tone. "If you are in a real match and are distracted, it can be fatal." To prove this he suddenly lunged forward, hitting her on her side, causing her to yelp in surprise and anger at his accuracy and her inability to stop him.  
  
"I told you," he said in his know it all tone before walking away.   
  
Ariel fumed silently at this, but tried to get her mind back to her task.   
  
Before long her class was over and she ran over to meet her friends in the student center. Before she could get there though, she caught sight of another sakura petal and had an overwhelming sense that she needed to go to the admissions office. She never noticed when Kali and Don passed right by her, or when the man just around the corner stopped in his tracks since he sensed something. He, however, shook it off and continued on his way, his long crimson hair swaying slightly.  
  
Ariel suddenly felt weak. She swayed slightly and Don caught her arm quickly, steadying her before she fell.   
  
"Jou-chan!... Ariel!" she heard the two voices call to her, causing her to shake her head in hopes of clearing the fog that had settled there.   
  
"Daijoubu desuka?" Kali asked with a deeply worried tone to her voice.  
  
"Hai... daijoubu desu!" she replied. For a moment there she felt as if she had traveled back in time to the place where her love had died, along with her heart. Ariel suddenly chuckled as she thought about what she had just felt. Heart... love? It made no sense.  
  
"Are you sure?" Kali asked again and she nodded.  
  
"That does it! I'm taking you to go see that fox-woman so she can tell you what's wrong with you besides your looks." Donovan said with a mischievous look in his eyes.   
  
"Oi... you just want an excuse to flirt with her." Ariel accused.  
  
Don shrugged his shoulders. "Hey... I'm a guy. Can you blame me if I think she looks better than either of you?" he asked, his smirk growing as he continued. "It's hard not to notice that soft long black hair, those sexy legs that stretch out to forever, breasts the size of..." he trailed off when he noticed the two girls next to him glaring with murder in their eyes.  
  
"Hey now... You two are okay too... Sort of."  
  
"That's not what we were talking about!" Within seconds he was flat on his back after feeling two flying fists connect squarely with his jaw.  
  
"Men!" cried the two girls as they hurried away.  
  
Don looked up irritatedly. "Women! Shit! I think they dislocated my jaw or something." He touched his sore jaw tenderly then grinned. "Oh well looks like another visit to the fox for me." he said as he casually got up and sauntered to the nurse's office.  
  
"I can't believe the nerve of that guy," muttered Ariel as her and Kali walked. They had been at the school since 7:20 am, and their English class had just ended at 1:30 pm. Since they didn't want to head home right way they had decided to take a detour to the mall for a couple hours. On the way Ariel was complaining about Don the whole time.  
  
"Do you like him or something?" asked Kali as a tease and Ariel stopped at the insult.  
  
"Of course not!" she exclaimed, "I seriously don't know what Asa sees in him! They're always arguing anyway."  
  
"Oooo! Ariel does like Don-san!"   
  
Ariel stopped in her tracks and practically beat her roommate with her kendo stick.  
  
"Oi! I'm just kidding Ariel! I know he's not your type! But I am curious... What is your type? I know it's not the strong silent type like my dear Aric-sama..." she said with happy sigh in her voice, "Or the gruff type like Don. You don't like the shy quiet type, and you most definitely don't like egotistical types."  
  
Kali noticed her friend drift into her own little dreamland and became a little upset that she wasn't listening to her. "Hey!" the girl cried, forcing Ariel to come back to reality.   
  
"I'm worried about you..." Kali said, "You're not acting like yourself."  
  
"Ah it's...," Ariel said as they reached the mall, trying to forget about the strange things that had happened today. She caught sight of a new gift store with swords and shinai's on display in a case behind the window."Oh look!" she cried "Let's go there!"  
  
The girl hurried towards the gift shop.  
  
"Chotto Mateo! Kaoru-san!" Kali cried, and Ariel stopped dead in her tracks.  
  
"What did you call me?" She asked as she turned towards the smaller girl.   
  
"What do you mean?" Kali stated with a look of confusion on her face, "I called you Ariel of course."   
  
"NO you..." Before she could finish her sentance, Ariel caught sight of a shock of long red hair, and a samurai outfitted man in the corner of her eye. The girl spun towards it only to see a small boy in a red sports jacket. Ariel chuckled to herself. "I must be getting paranoid."  
  
Afterwards Ariel twirled around and headed towards the gift shop.   
  
( To be continued...  
  
AN: If you want to see the sketch that "Kaoru" drew go   
  
I made like three or four sketches before I got to one I like, so I hope it's satisfactory. (Copy and Paste, or it won't show)  
  
Now for Sayings...Most of the sayings in here are common knowledge...but just because I'm bored I'll put their English equivalents...and I'm not 100% sure about all the character names...  
  
Jou-chan= Little Missy Daijoubu desuka?= Are you okay?  
  
Hai... Daijoubu desu= Yes... I'm fine!  
  
Hentai= Pervert, perverse  
  
Baka no hentai= those stupid perverts  
  
Sensei= Teacher, professor...  
  
Gomen= I'm sorry  
  
-Sama= respect, Endearment to someone older   
  
-dono= Miss/Mr. (very polite honorific)  
  
Names:  
  
Kaoru= Fragrance   
  
Ariel= Lioness of God/Spirit  
  
Kali= Energetic  
  
Aric= Strong leader  
  
Donovan= Strong fighter  
  
Asa= Healer 


	3. Dream analyst Misao!

AN: I'm back!  
  
Disclaimer: No you can't make me! I refuse! You'll have to kill me first!  
  
Kaoru: Baka!!pounds lightning-storm  
  
Foxfire9:...Why am I here again? looks at story below  
  
Oh yeah... Kenshin doesn't belong to lightning-storm...It belongs to Watsuki  
  
Chapter 2  
  
( Dream analysis Kali!  
  
Ariel and Kali finally reached their house. Ariel had been much more subdued since she had seen that figure at the mall, and Kali could tell.  
  
"Allright spit it out!" Kali said as she placed her hands on her hips defiantly.  
  
"Hah?" Ariel stated with a confused tone.  
  
"Don't hide it,"Kali said with a more urgent tone. "Something's been bothering you all day, I can tell so what is it?"  
  
Ariel's face became a bright red as she put the reverse blade sword she had just bought in her house. "Well I..."  
  
Kali looked at her with a scowl on her normally cheerful face, and Ariel gulped silently, debating whether she should really tell her friend about the dreams and the things that had happened today. Finally she gave in and turned towards her younger friend.   
  
"Kali?" she asked softly, "Do you think dreams have some hidden meaning?"  
  
"Huh?" The smaller girl stopped for a second in surprise and rubbed her chin. Had she just heard right? Had Ariel ask something about dreams having a hidden meaning? That was not like Ariel at all. Ariel was the one who never believed in superstitions, and thought everything had to have a practical explanation, and yet, here she was, asking about hidden meanings. At first Kali mistook it for imagination, but when her friend had asked again, Kali knew her assumption was wrong .She thought about the latest lesson they had in her psychology class regarding dreams and plopped herself on the porch just outside the door.  
  
"Well," she said in a very mature voice, not fitting her personality. "In psychology class they went over Sigmund Freud and how he believed in symbols of your dreams boiling down to some unconscious desire, based on experiences you've had in the past, although really I don't think that its all based around sex. Then came the neo-Freudians who believed in some parts of the Freudian theory but-"  
  
"No!" called Ariel, she had not asked Kali the question in order to get a lecture on Freudian theory or Neo-Freudian theory. She simply wanted a little help in the matter of her dreams. "That's not what I meant."   
  
Kali stopped talking and looked at her friend, she wasn't exactly sure what her friend had been asking, and looked a little perplexed. "What exactly do you mean then?" Kali saw her friend flush under her questioning, and a wicked thought came to her mind as she remembered Donovan talking about Ariel's twisted dreams and fantasy lover.  
  
"Well I mean... um... I've been having these dreams where..." Ariel looked flushed unsure of how to explain herself, when Kali said something very Donovan like about Ariel, her fantasy lover and getting herself a boyfriend.  
  
"That's not the point!" Ariel defended. Kali quieted down as her friend continued. "There's more to it then just a dream lover," she sighed. "It seems so real."  
  
Ariel continued with her story about the time period in her dreams, describing in detail the outfits and people in her dreams while her and Kali entered the dojo-house. Every now and then she would glance at her friend to see if there was any reaction to the words. Some time later, Ariel quieted down, nervously awaiting her friend, the future famous psychologist's opinion, but she did not get the answer she wanted at that time. Instead Kali seemed to be concentrating on something quite serious. She was about to mention something about it to Kali when the girl, looked at her friend and jumped up.  
  
"How long have you been haveing these dreams again?" The smaller girl asked with much enthusiasm, and Ariel looked down at the ground.  
  
"About three years, " the girl blushed as she said those three words, and saw as a new light of hope reached her friend's eyes.  
  
"This is... wow, 1800's, old-fashioned kimonos, samurai, and swords! This is great! Grandfather would trip," Kali stopped her words for a moment, before she continued her sentance, " Oh I wonder what Aric-sama and I would look like in one of those outfits."   
  
The only words that ariel head were 'Grandfather would trip.' and she became very curious as to her friends meaning.  
  
"What do you mean by that Kali?" Ariel begged, but her younger friend was too busy uttering nonsense as she walked around the porch with an excited bounce in her movements.  
  
"Kali!" Ariel said again before pulling her smaller friends ponytail.  
  
"Ow! What was that for?" The girl asked as she rubbed the sore spot on her head. She saw her friend with flames blowing out of her head.   
  
"Please help me if you can!" Ariel exclaimed, and Kali backed off a little, but said nothing. "tell me what you think of the DREAMS." Ariel stated and Kali half smiled.  
  
"Oh that, well that, um...." she stuttered, she looked as if she had something lingering in the back of her mind, but she wasn't quite sure whether to speak or not. Ariel soon broke the smaller girl's concentration.  
  
"Please Kali," she asked sincerely, "If can see anything in this process, please let me know."  
  
Kali looked at her older friend briefly before nodding her head. "Okay Ariel," she stated, "I'll try to help you with what I can, but know this, " The girl paused for a moment, emphasizing 'Know this,' "I can't be sure about anything. All I can do is share with you some experences."  
  
"Go on." Ariel Pleaded, and Kali nodded her head.  
  
"You might think me crazy for this... but I think you're dreams might not really be dreams at all." Ariel said nothing but the look on her face showed that she was in disbelief at her friend's utterance. "I think..." Kali was silent for a moment as if she trying to figure out how to put this in words when she placed her hand on her chin in concentration. What Ariel was saying was similar to what a man in the mental hospital that her grandfather used to work at had said. He had remembered something that had happened long before he was born in perfect detail, and the man it involved was someone the man in the hospital had never even seen. And there was also her ownexpereiences. Misao shook her head at that last thought, she didn't want people thinking she was some sort of basket case, but then again, if Ariel had the samw thoughts, then maybe she could finallt tell somone her story. With her mind made up, Kali smiled and had more confidence in her words.   
  
"After putting everything together I think these dreams you speak of may actually be memories... Memories from the distant past."  
  
Ariel's eyes widened in disbelief. She never believed in herself having a past life or anything, and if for some insane reason Kali was actually onto something, why would the dreams she'd been having plague her even more so then before? Ariel shook her head stubbornly, she couldn't believe she was actually considering Kali's hypothesis. What proof did she have? Everyone had dreams of the past and the future. Didn't Freud say something about unconscious wishes? That being the case, her dreams could just show what she desired most. So that would mean she desired being in the late 1800's, teaching as a kendo instructor in an old dojo, with two free loader's and a samurai by her side. Ariel's eyes fell as she thought of that. Okay she was starting to get Kali's point, but that didn't mean she'd fall for it!  
  
"That's just crazy!" Ariel said in denial and Kali shook her head vigorously.   
  
"I was just saying what I think it is." She exclemed "Believe it or not there have been studies where people seem to have gotten lost in their past and never were the same after that." Kali decided that it was about time she mentioned what had made her come up with her conclusion. "Like this one experience of a doctor who had memories of being in the civil war even though he was born in 1955! And..."   
  
"And what?" Ariel asked, " Is there something else?"  
  
"Well...I've had similar dreams. " The last sentance was barely dicernable in the whistling wind of the night, but Ariel managed to hear them anyways. She was speechless,Ariel never would she have expected that. "Na- Nani?"  
  
"You heard me!" Kali exclaimed, " 1800's, undercover spy, ninjas!"  
  
"Ninja's!" Ariel was aghast.  
  
"Hai, I thought about telling grandfather, but I don't know how he'd react, besides I'm not sure anyhow!"  
  
"Don't joke about that!" Ariel said with a tone that said she didn't believe her younger friend in the slightest. Kali scowled at the older girl before taking out her notes on brain chemistry, and slapping them on the ground.   
  
"See this diagram?" Kali asked her friend, and Ariel nodded. "This..." she said, " is the part of the brain that is active use. This..." she said pointing to the part that held a person's memories, "is where the brain stores it's memories," she paused before moving to another part of the brain, "and this huge sction here is part of dead weight." she paused, "However, in twins there is sometimes an active spot right here in the dead weight area that has yet to be figured out."  
  
"But those are twins." Ariel stated, and she saw as her friend Kali balled up her fists and punched the ground.  
  
"I know that baka!" she exclaimed, but before Ariel had a time to react, Kali spoke again. "You know that man, I was talking about? The one that believed he was from the civil war? Well it turns out that this part, "she said pointing to an area right beside the twin spot," of his brain was firing off like crazy. When they looked at his family tree they actually saw that his great grandfather was in the exact same position and died in the exact detail that the man said he himself had, AND he could describe ALL the battles, in perfect detail!"  
  
Ariel looked at Kali in surprise. She understood what her friend was saying,but even so, it was hard for her to believe. However, rather then responding, Ariel looked at the harvest moon and sighed. During her talk with Kali ,time seemed to have passed very quickly, and she and Kali had to get inside the house in order to do some homework, and study for the quiz in their class tomorrow.   
  
"It's getting dark,"Ariel said to her friend," we should go inside and study for our test tomorrow. Kali agreed.  
  
Time passed quickly for the two girl's, and before long the clock stuck 11pm.   
  
"Yaaaaaa," Ariel yawned, "I'm going to hit the sack pretty soon."  
  
Kali nooded. "Oyasumi Nasai." The girl said, and Ariel headed towards her room to get ready for bed.  
  
Dream  
  
"Wait!" Ariel watched a girl run into an alley with a wooden sword.  
  
"Wait Battousai the Manslayer!"  
  
"Hmm?" The red haired man turned towards her slowly, and stared in surprise.  
  
"You're much weaker looking in person then I thought you'd be!" The girl spouted back to him.  
  
"Oro?" he said in confusion.  
  
"Resign yourself!" The girl jumped in the air, and Ariel watched in awe as she started descending on the stranger. "Hah!" She was again shocked as the man skillfully leapt into the air and dodged the attack, but had to do all she could not to laugh as he wound up falling in some pails.  
  
"Oroorororo!" He said with his eyes dizzy and the girl felt insecure about her presumptions. Ariel couldn't imagine how the shocked the girl must have felt to see the man suddenly turn klutz after he had just leapt into the air with such grace, and she now found herself in place of the girl.  
  
"Are you really the Battousai?" Ariel asked with obvious confusion in her voice. She quickly continued, "I heard you slew three more people last night..."  
  
Somehow the man managed to get out of the mess he got himself into and regain his composure.  
  
"Rurouni!" he spoke out. "Sessha is merely a wandering swordsman," he took his sword away from his belt and held it out to the girl.  
  
"Do you think I can slay someone with this?"  
  
( To be continued....  
  
AN: That's it for that chapter! I hope it was okay!  
  
Oh and I have no clue about any man born in 1955 who had relapses about the civil war! So please don't take it as an actual study that was performed! I just made it up for THIS story. Was it convincing enough...hehehe.  
  
Well enough of my rambling! Please R&R.  
  
(   
  
Kali= Energetic  
  
Battousai= Manslayer  
  
Rurouni= Wanderer (obviously)  
  
Sessha= This one (Kenshin thing)  
  
Oro= huh? (Another Kenshin thing)  
  
Sigmeund Freud= The first person to come up with the idea of an id, ego, and superego that motivated everyone's actions. I think he was one of the first psychaiatrist's to come up with an idea about where our dreams originate from, or was he the first? I don't remember exactly... I tended to get lost in my own little world at times and/or doodle... heheheh... 


	4. Last One

Disclaimer: *sniffles* Kenshin isn't mine, but I'll buy it off the writer! How does 15 dollars sound... what I can't buy it!...darn. Oh well, one can dream right?  
  
*************  
  
Ch 3 Alone?  
  
Ariel's eyes flew open, but not because of the alarm this time. Because of the dream she just had... she saw him this time. All of him, and she was taken aback by how handsome he was. He had soft, sweet violet eyes that seemed to express nothing but good in them, a dark blood colored yukato shirt that tucked easily into his white pleated yukatta pants, and long crimson hair... no that's not right... was it brown? Quickly the image faded from her mind, leaving her almost as clueless as she was before.  
  
"Shimatta!" she said softly to herself as she covered her eyes. "Why can't I remember anything aside from his voice, eye color, and shirt color!?"  
  
Ariel felt like she must be insane to want to remember so badly, but she couldn't help it. There was something about him. It was almost as if they were connected in some strange way.  
  
The word connected echoed in her ears but as usual she overlooked it and glanced at her alarm clock.   
  
"3am..." she groaned. "I have another three and a half hours to go." and she stuck her face in the pillow once again. It was no use though, her mind was filled with ideas of second lives, past lives and future lives. Apparently that talk with Kali about reincarnation and such really got to her, so hours later, Ariel found herself groggily getting out of bed. She had hardly gotten any sleep since she first woke up, if she had gotten any at all, and it seemed to be taking its toll on a girl who was used to at least six hours of sleep at night. She was lucky if she got three the night before.  
  
As usual her friend bounced into the room before she was ready, but this time there was no Don invading their privacy much to their relief. However, Ariel was not prepared for Kali's first phrase as she appeared.  
  
"Ohaiyo Mrs. Samurai!" Her friend called happily, and then watched Ariel for a moment to see her reaction. She didn't have to wait long for in seconds, her friends high voice was heard throughout the little house.  
  
"Nani!" The girl cried, and a mad blush covering her face while Kali laughed heartily.  
  
"Gomenesai Ariel," she laughed, "but I couldn't help it after you told me those dreams you had been having." She looked back at her friend who was still sitting on her bed looking like a fresh tomato before giggling and nonchalantly playing with one of her knives.  
  
"Speaking of that," she said sounding serious, "did you have another one last night?"   
  
Ariel looked at her hands and clutched them together nervously as if she was contemplating whether to say anything or not, but then, unclenched them and pulled out the outfit she was going to wear to class that day.  
  
"Hai," she said quietly, without facing her curious friend," but it was different, it wasn't as dark and it was like a meeting... or an introduction." Ariel was silent again when she looked back at her clock and pushed Kali out the door. She needed to get dressed for school before it was too late.  
  
~~  
  
Kali was curious about her friend's dream and as usual sat cross-legged with one hand on her chin and the other in her lap. As she was sitting here she thought about what she had said to Ariel last night and smiled. "An introduction aye?" She said to herself. "Perhaps that means that Ariel will actually meet this stranger she had been talking about."   
  
She then laughed as she had thought about it. She really had been spending too much time with her psychology teacher, and grandfather Arman. He would always tell her stories of the doctor born in 1955. It never ceased to amaze him on how accurately the man had predicted the death of his great-grandfather who had died long before the doctor had been born. The man had been mentally ill, supposedly, but when she was little, Arman worked at the hospital the stranger had been put in, and he would always tell her the stories he had heard from the man at work. Perhaps that was why the girl wanted to become a psychologist (psychiatrist?) after she graduated from college. Kali's thoughts were soon stopped as Ariel stepped out of the door and tugged at her sleeve.   
  
"Are you ready Kali?" She asked simply, and Kali jumped up and ran a few feet ahead of Ariel.   
  
~*~  
  
Before long the girls had arrived at the school, and happily walked to where Don and the fox-lady were sitting, not to mention Alois. This small-uninvited guest surprised Ariel and she immediately called out his name.  
  
"Alois-chan! What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be in school?"  
  
"Don't call me Chan Busu!" he said to her in his usual arrogant tone.   
  
Ariel was somewhat sleep deprived and she almost missed the boy's insult, but when she heard it she narrowed her eyes at the boy.  
  
"Why you!" she began raising her voice in indignation at the boy but was stopped as her voice seemed to go in a trance like state and she heard a gentle voice reprimanding some people in her vision gently.  
  
'Maa, Maa, calm down you two!'  
  
The people in the vision continued to fight when the voice came again, this time a little more urgent, and the blurry figures in the vision leapt away from each other and walked towards the figure in the vision.   
  
However almost as soon as that vision came it was swept away by a cool breeze. All that was left was a curious Alois, and a sakura petal turning into turning to dust, almost as soon as it was noticed.   
  
Ariel saw this and began to believe that it was about time she should stop ignoring her flashes. It seemed that whenever the flashes came and went a sakura petal would appear and skitter away. Ariel looked towards the barren sakura grove. They were not in bloom right now, but Ariel had a strange feeling that when that time came she ought to go and see the sakura trees once more. It didn't matter if she was alone or with someone else, all she knew was that she had to go.  
  
"Busu? Hey Busu!" a young voice was heard and Ariel turned her eyes on the person who insulted her once more.   
  
"Mou, Don't call me Busu!" She hissed in annoyance.  
  
However the boy didn't seem to listen as he continued to call her the hated nickname over and over again. Ariel didn't have her kendo stick this time since she didn't have the class. Instead she picked up a small tree branch that seemed to have fallen from somewhere and chased after the kid with it in hand.  
  
Kali saw this and decided to join the chase as well just for the fun of it, when she saw a tall dark haired man in a long coat stalk by. Her features immediately lit up. "It's Aric-sama!" she cried happily and ran away from her friends. "I'll see you all later!"  
  
Don and Asa looked at her to acknowledge it, but were shocked when they saw her call Aric's name, and he actually turned around to wait for her.   
  
'He stopped!' she thought happily and her face lit up as she hurriedly went to the man's side.  
  
The stunned silence of Don and Asa was interrupted by Alois's protests about being hit and Ariel telling him that he should know better. She turned back to her friends while pulling Alois by his ear.  
  
"Hey where's Kali-Chan?" Ariel asked sweetly.   
  
Asa gave her trademark laugh, while Don grunted something about weasels, pigs flying, and hell freezing over before leaning his head in the direction that she had went. Ariel just blinked and turned towards the direction that Kali and Aric had gone. She was shocked to see them walking side by side in the distance.  
  
"Shimatta..." Ariel stated in annoyance, everyone seemed to have somebody now, even Kali! Ariel had never thought she'd be the last one to have some one to talk to when they needed, yet here she was, the oddball in her group of friends.  
  
Kali had Aric... Don had Asa... even Alois had someone! Ariel looked around her school grounds and frowned when she saw that just about everyone was paired off. Everybody but her.  
  
"Ohohoho!" Asa stated, "Looks like our dear Tanuki is left all by herself!"  
  
Don laughed and Ariel turned red. "Although I have to admit, I never thought weasel girl would find someone before you! Especially Aric-san!"  
  
Ariel turned red again and started to walk away, that was the last thing she wanted to hear from anyone right now. Alois' voice made her even more upset.  
  
"That's because she's such an old hag! No one will want to be with her!" Alois stated. Ariel almost didn't have a come back, but as usual the fire returned to her eyes and she whacked Alois with the stick she still held.  
  
"Take that back!" she said angrily.  
  
"Iie! It's the truth!"  
  
"What do you mean by that!" Once again the war ensued, but this time it was cut short when Ariel pulled on Alois's arm and he pulled away from her roughly, confidently proclaiming that he had no time to fight with ugly girls like her. Ariel was blowing fumes at the boy for this comment but before she could give him the pain he deserved he said something about promising Cathryn-Chan that they would do something on this particular holiday, as he was returning to school tomorrow, and ran off.   
  
It took a moment for his words to register to the angry Ariel, but eventually her eyes widened and went back to their normal tone, she had nearly forgotten that today was a day in which the Junior high school students got off. And since the park was practically right next to the college, it was no wonder he had come for a visit.   
  
With that thought, Ariel watched him go, but she could have sworn she had forgotten something important about the little brat. That's when she remembered the trip to the Akabeko after class, and smiled. Alois had turned 13 a few weeks ago, but no one had been able to give him a party at that time, so they had planned to do that today.   
  
Speaking of time, Ariel decided to check her watch. She had her business class to go to at 9 am and if she was going to own her own business after college like she had always dreamed, she had to be at her best behavior in her studies. That included being on time to class. She nearly jumped out of her skin when she saw the time. It was 9:05 and her class was on the other side of campus.   
  
Before you could blink an eye Ariel made a beeline to her first class without looking back. And for this reason the fates decided to play a little game.   
  
A small, loose sheet of paper slid out of Ariel's binder and started to float towards the ground before a mild gust of wind seemed to catch it in it's clammy grasp, and cause it to tumble on and on, exposing the violet eyes and shadowed face drawn on it to the world. The sheet passed many people, but neither one of them seemed to notice, so it continued a little before finally blowing against the ankles of a young man with crimson hair and violet eyes. At that moment, the mild wind seemed to still and the picture floated to the ground with its face kissing the sky.   
  
The fates seemed to laugh as said man picked up the picture carefully and looked upon it with his eyes wide in recognition.   
  
~*~(@ To be continued  
  
AN: Eek! This chapter was a little bumpy in some parts I think, but I may have managed to smooth it down some from what I had before. However, I love the last actual paragraph! Now if I could type more paragraph's like that it would be nice.   
  
But it not my ultimate decision on whether it's good or not. That boils down to how many reader's like it. So I need reviews. Is it okay? Do you have any tips? Your opinions count!  
  
*pouts* Just no flames okay...  
  
~*(@  
  
Okay now a glossary of sorts...  
  
Rurouni= Wanderer (of course)  
  
Sessha= This unworthy one  
  
Shimatta= Shit? or is it Damn?  
  
-chan= little/ someone you have known a long time  
  
Nani= What  
  
Hai= yes  
  
Alois= Little Warrior  
  
Aric= Strong leader  
  
Asa= Healer  
  
Cathryn= Peaceful  
  
Tanuki= Racoon  
  
Busu= Ugly/Old hag  
  
~*~(@   
  
Final note: It may be sometime before I update again...I need to get the next chapter together. I hope you like the story thus far. 


	5. Enter Kenshin

AN: Here's the 4th chapter. I would be really happy if you read and review. I'm a new author as I've said before, and I really need the motivation!  
  
Disclaimer: Kenshin is mine! Yes it's all mine!  
  
Foxfire9: If Kenshin belongs to you, I get Aoshi.  
  
Misao: NO! Aoshi-sama is mine, and I Makimachi Misao of the great oni-  
  
Bakura: Urasai!!! *Tosses something at Kali and she falls over* I will steal Kenshin from all of you! Muwahahaa!  
  
Foxfire9: Bakura! *dreamy eyes*  
  
Bakura: eh...  
  
Foxfire9: *Glomps*  
  
Misao: *groggily getting up* I'm okay! It takes more then that to defeat the great Makimachi Misao! *Giggles as she sees Foxfire9 and Bakura preoccupied* And Aoshi is still mine, although Kenshin isn't lightning-storm's! It's Noubi... Noubi...wha? That Watsuki guy...  
  
~~~~~~~  
  
~~~ = Flashback  
  
**************  
  
Chapter 4  
  
Enter Kenshin  
  
"This is..." the red haired man said as he looked the paper he held in his hand.  
  
He had just been getting ready to go to class when he had felt the lightweight blow against his leg, and naturally, he looked down to see what ever had hit him. It was a small sketch of someone, and out of curiosity the man had picked it up to get a better look.  
  
He didn't know what he expected to see when he looked at it, but he certainly hadn't expected this.   
  
It was an unsigned drawing of a man with long bangs and bright violet eyes. The man that it represented looked surprisingly like the one who held the drawing in his rough fingers. If he hadn't known better, he would say that whoever had drawn this picture had his face in mind when they did it.   
  
The shape of the jaw, the nose, the hair, the large violet eyes in the center of the face, they were all his own. The only recognizable difference that he could see was the cross shaped scar in the shadows of the left cheek.   
  
~~~~~~  
  
It was a scar that his own face did not encompass, but oddly enough, he almost felt that there should be one. As he thought about this a fleeting feeling of anger filled him and he felt the pain of a blade slash his cheek.  
  
Instinctively the man raised his finger to where the pain seared him and he could almost feel the warm sticky blood where the scar should have been. His senses became filled with the smell and taste of blood. He could imagine himself turning around with chopped up bodies strewn around him. It began to make the man feel disgusted, and he put his hand to his side half expecting a katana to be there.   
  
'What is this?' The man thought to himself, 'Where, no WHO am I?' The man recieved no answer to his question, and clutched his head as the feeling of anger, death, and blood washed away.  
  
~~~   
  
The man looked towards the ground. There beneth him were two drops of freshly spilt blood. A bit pale, he kneeled towards the ground and touched the drops. They stung him immensely, and the man quickly retracted his finger. The blood had disappeared.   
  
"Whats going on?" the man voiced after the strange occurence.   
  
There was a tingling sensation on the man's cheek and he touched it to see if there was a cut. There was no none, and the man was relieved. He thought about the drawing again and looked over it carefully for any signature.He felt a slight headache and fog overtake him.  
  
~~~~~~~  
  
The sounds of a babbling brook and birds twittering seem to assault the man as he looked around on the sammll pathway by a babbling brook. There were sakura blossoms in bloom, and beautiful birds of every color dancing in midair. There was some laughter ahead of him and the man spotted the back of a girl with long black hair tied in a large bow, and a yellow kimono draped around her slight form. He had the urge to ask what her name was, but the girl stopped underneath a sakura tree that was at the tip of small path way. She turned her body around until she was completely facing him and smiled slightly. The man could have sworn she was someone from his past. But the thing that truly startled him was when she held out her hand with a welcome look.  
  
"...Okaeri nasai...Kenshin," she stated in a soft voice. And the red haired man felt some kind of foreign emotion take over his senses.   
  
~~~  
  
Liam became aware of the campus side walk beneath his feet once more, but the flashes he had just experienced seemed so vivid and real to him. He almost felt as if he had actually traveled somewhere else. True, he had similar flashes before, but never had they seemed as real as the one he just experienced. He could actually smell the scent of the sakura trees and feel the energy that reverberated off the girl. However, he shook his head to clear such thoughts out of his mind before he saw a sakura petal appear and skitter away. He was perplexed about that, since there were no sakura blossoms in bloom yet, but before he could think about it any more he heard a gruff voice behind him.  
  
"Hey move out kid!"   
  
"Kid?" he said perplexed, but the man turned around to find himself looking at a large man with long dark green hair. He was sitting in a pick up truck with a cold scowl on his face. The smaller man quickly realized he was in the trucks path and bowed slightly.   
  
"Ah sumimasen!" he cried, and hurried out of the way.  
  
The man hadn't left as the smaller man had expected he would however, rather he seemed to be looking over the red haired man in speculation. When the smaller man looked back up at the person curiously, he noticed him giving him a smirk before he reached back as if to find something.  
  
"You're funny kid," he replied without looking back, but then turned around and continued, "I haven't had any idiot give me that kind of respect until now."   
  
The crimson haired man blinked curiously as he thought of the statement. Was that supposed to be a compliment? He let the thought slide and smiled shakily, until he saw the man open his mouth.  
  
"What's your name?" he asked, and the red haired man answered quickly.  
  
"Sedgewick... Sedgewick Liam."  
  
"Humph. That's a good strong name. Well, no matter." he said as if he was contemplating something, and he continued. "I guess I'll be seeing you around then, and if you're ever interested, there's a Kendo class here on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings. It would be good to have a sword style to go with that name of yours."   
  
"Oro?" The red headed man stared at the dark haired one with a question as well as interest in his eyes, causing the larger man to pull up a wooden shinai.  
  
"What's that look about baka? I'm telling you out of the goodness of my heart." he said before tossing the shinai at the student.   
  
"Orooo?" He said and would have dropped the stick that had just been thrown at him, but a flash of hard gold flicked through his eyes and he managed to catch it with more grace then he expected, and an image of a blood stained white tile floor surfaced in his mind. However, the man shook his head and looked back at the man in front of him.  
  
"Keep that as a... shall we say, token of my appreciation." were the words the red haired man had caught befor the taller man drove off in his truck.  
  
Liam's eyes narrowed just a bit.  
  
"Kendo?" He said to no one in particular, as he swung around the shinai with quick and even movements. "I might just take that..."   
  
His eyes returned to their normal expression then and the man hesitently stuck the kendo stick through one of his belt loops and headed off to class. He hadn't gone far however when he realized that he had no idea where his first class was.  
  
He looked for anyone who might be able to direct him to his next class, but it seemed he was out of luck for the time being. Nonetheless, he walked forward and rounded the corner of the 700 building, to see three girls walking a little ways a way. Liam's current mood melted into something less brooding, and he looked at them with some relief.  
  
"Ano...sumimasen..." He said after getting within hearing distance of. One of the girls turned towards him and he pulled out his schedule to ask the whereabouts of room 464.   
  
~*~  
  
"Mou! Ariel said as she dug into her binder looking for the drawing she had stuck in there earlier. She had kept it with her as a sort of good luck charm, ever since that strange phenomenon had happened in her room. She figured it might be a good omen of something yet to come. However, here she was, and it was nowhere in sight. Kami-sama really had not been good to her this morning and she was almost dreading the rest of the day. The class' five-minute break was almost over, and she wanted to be seated in her class when her professor returned. As was, she had been ten minutes late to her class that morning, and her professor had not been pleased. He didn't give her detention or anything, but he did warn her that she would have to stay after for five minutes for every minute she had missed in his class if she was not seated by the time the break was over. She had fumed silently at that, not because it wasn't a fair rule, but because she was the only one he seemed to mess with. If another person was five to ten minutes late, he tended to give them a warning and not impose any extra punishment.  
  
"Mou! Why am I always the lucky one?" she scowled quietly before seeing three girls enter the room.  
  
"That person must have been a foreigner..." one with short hair stated, and Ariel's attention perked. She wasn't used to foreigners on campus. She heard the another girl with really long hair say something about them being a foreign exchange student, and one with medium length hair mentioned a little description about the man they were talking about.  
  
"Red hair and violet eyes..." the girl said.  
  
That grabbed Ariel's attention. She thought about her dreams and selfishly gave the girl's her utmost attention. She knew this was eavesdropping, and she knew it was rude, but she just couldn't help it. She then frowned as she thought of her talk with Kali. If it hadn't been for that, she never would have eavesdropped like this, and she would have been quite happy to live in her twisted dreams as Don had so politely pointed out. Ariel's aura seemed to visibly darken. Don's comment had just helped to fuel her curiosity after Kali's little talk. Although, she hadn't believed it at first, after thinking about it, she started dwelling on Kali's hypothesis, and it made her think that there was a piece of the puzzle of her life that she needed to figure out.  
  
Ariel blushed some at this and tuned out her thoughts as the girl who had mentioned about the violet eyes continued to speak.  
  
"Was it just me or did those eyes look natural?"   
  
"You and purple eyes.." the friend with short hair said in response, but the blonde girl who was talking seemed to be lost in her thoughts, as she continued.  
  
"They seemed so warm..." She trailed off as she looked down at her desk, and her expression became somber as she lowered her voice. "Demo, they were so sad looking as well... It reminded me of..."  
  
The attention of the girl's friends was peaked, and they seemed to be urging her to continue the sentence she had started. Alas their wish was not granted as she suddenly rubbed her hand on the back of her neck and smiled. "Enough of that though, I think it would be neat to travel the world as a foreign exchange student! Don't you?"  
  
Her friends looked like they were about to fall out of their desks at this sudden change in her behavior but they soon regained their composure. However, they were not exactly thrilled. One of them seemed to glare at her in annoyance while the other tensed up and leaned back in her chair.   
  
"I hate it when you do that..." the one who had leaned back in her chair stated, and the shorthaired one agreed. The person they were addressing just shrugged and smiled.   
  
"You know me."  
  
Ariel almost laughed, but the teacher made his appearence.  
  
~*~(@ To be continued  
  
I don't like to end the chapter here, but my original chapter four was much longer then the other chapters. O_O So I had to cut it a bit. This is still longer, but it's better then what I had before.(20k) *sighs* Well at least Kenshin was introduced.  
  
Side Note: I didn't want to put Kenshin characters as the extras who talk to Kenshin, so I made them foxfire9, a friend whom I've had forever, and myself. I'm the one obsessed with purple eyes ^_^  
  
~*~(@)~*~  
  
Well Anyhow, here's the little glossary.  
  
Okaeri Nasai= Welcome Home  
  
Sumimasen= sorry (formal), excuse me...  
  
Liam= Unwavering protector  
  
Sedgewick= From the sword grass place  
  
Oro= huh (Kenshin only)  
  
Mou= similar to 'geez' or why me... (Kaoru thing)  
  
Kami-sama= God  
  
~*~(@  
  
For the reviewers in the last chapters, thank you very much. Authors like me live by reviews of people like you! So everyone, PLEASE REVIEW!   
  
If the reviewers don't mind my asking...In Japan, do you know if older people, or younger people introduce themselves first? Does it make a difference? I think I have the right idea, but I'm not sure. I hope I'm not sounding rude! 


	6. Fallen Over You

AN: Hi again. You know, when I saw that I had recieved the 25 reviews I had asked for(I didn't expect it), I was going to try for at least three more before I posted, but you lucked out. My fingers have been itching to post this chapter ever since I uploaded it on Aug.30th. Thank you readers for giving me the 25 I requested though, I appreciate it. I hope this chapter is worth it.  
  
Disclaimer: Unfortunately, Kenshin does not belong to me, it belongs to Noubihiro Watsuki, and whatever company(ies)released it to the public.   
  
Foxfire9: A NORMAL disclaimer? *looks shocked* Are you okay dearie?  
  
...  
  
An: Now then, It's the part you've all been waiting for!  
  
Warning: Light waffiness and/or OOC may be applied *giggles*  
  
~~*~~  
  
Chapter 5  
  
Fallen Over You   
  
~~*~~  
  
Ariel frowned. It was just her luck that the teacher would come into class when she was listening to some other people. Although, truth be told she would have stopped listening pretty soon if they didn't talk any more about this foreigner. That thought made Ariel feel very ashamed of her self. She was not only listening to someone's private conversation, but she was also irritated when they stopped.  
  
"Kami-sama!" Ariel said under her breath, and the teacher glared at her. Oh yes, Kami- sama was definitely against her today, but she continued to sit straight and look at the teacher as he started to write something about stocks and bonds on the board, even if he didn't have her full attention. Normally that wouldn't be a problem for the girl, but because she had heard the girls next to her say something about the foreigner, and especially about the emotions in his violet eyes. Her mind started to fog over. She had a feeling she was on the verge of remembering something very significant. And a image started to form into her mind, that was until she was caught daydreaming in class.  
  
"Kamiya!" Her teacher called out her surname with slight irritation, and Ariel jumped.  
  
"Hai!"   
  
"Now that you aren't in your little dream world," he stated with straight face, " tell me when it's best to invest your money into stock, and when it's best to invest your money in bonds."  
  
Ariel looked at him with a blank look in her face, and he frowned.  
  
"I'll see you after class then," he stated, and once again turned his attention to the board.  
  
~  
  
"Where the fuck is Jou-chan!" Said an impatient man sitting on a table just outside of the student center. It was 12:05 and the girl hadn't yet showed up for their surprise party even though she was supposed to be there at 11:45. Alois had just turned 13 a few weeks ago, and they had all been planning to treat him to the Akabeko for a free lunch and dessert. Unfortunately, Ariel was the one who had the tickets that allowed them to get in for free. The fox-lady was preparing the surprise party at the Akabeko, so she wasn't there either, and she'd be pretty annoyed at them for not arriving yet.  
  
"Ah forget about busu!" Alois muttered to the older man. "We can just tell her that we waited when we see her next!"   
  
"Oi."  
  
"It's the truth! And I wouldn't mind being away from that ugly girl for just a little bit."  
  
"Ah how can you say such a thing?" The normally timid Cathyrn with him spoke up, and then blushed and covered her mouth. She hadn't meant to say anything, but it had accidentally slipped out when she heard him say such an awful thing about his nii-chan.  
  
"Ano... sumimasen..." she whispered but Alois just shrugged.  
  
"So' kay, but I'm getting hungry," he said as his stomach grumbled slightly.  
  
"Where's Asa anyhow, doesn't she usually have you on a leash by now?" Alois said to Don offhandedly and was rewarded with a bonk on the head.   
  
"OW! HEY WHAT WAS THAT FOR?!" The kid yelled with an annoyed look on his face.  
  
The argument continued for a little while, and a crimson haired man with a kendo stick going through his belt hole stopped and glanced at the people as he heard the ruckus. They were vaguely familiar to him, but he couldn't quite place where he had met them before. He just shrugged it off though, and took a bite out of his fish sandwich, before putting it back in the box he had bought it in. His class that had just ended, and he had decided to take a look at the student art exhibit across the lawn. He figured it would be nice to see the art work, and also figured that the drawing he found earlier may have belonged to one of the students who entered work in the gallery. The artist's name was Ariel, at least he thought that was the name.   
  
He had dropped the drawing in class, and caught sight of a sloppy signature that he hadn't noticed before. He guessed it was because he had been in a hurry. After he thought about this, Liam realized he had slowed his pace to the student exhibit during his meditation, and returned to a normal walking pace as he reached the area where the sidewalk between the student center and the cafeteria broke off in different directions.  
  
~  
  
Ariel frowned as she hurried towards the cafeteria at full speed. Today was the worst day to be held back in class, even if it was for only 20 minutes. It was especially bad since today was the day that her and her friends had planned to go to the Akabeko in order to celebrate Alois' birthday. They hadn't told him anything about the party, and hadn't even mentioned his birthday even though they knew it had passed. All the boy knew was to meet them today at 11:45 am around the cafeteria, and it was now 12:10. The girl had not made it a practice to be fashionably late to anything, and she hadn't wanted to be late this time. She also wondered if her friends had decided to go without her, knowing full well the bottomless stomach's of Alois and Don. Truthfully, she wouldn't be surprised if they had. She could imagine that she would get to their meeting place, and there would be Kali or someone else waiting for her with a letter in their hand saying that she was to meet them at the Akabeko.  
  
These thoughts made her have second thoughts about hurrying to the cafeteria, but nonetheless she continued on her trek with the slight belief that they had indeed waited for her. She just hoped she wouldn't run some helpless child over with the way her legs were thumping in order to get there.  
  
Sooner then not, she found her self-rounding the corner of the Student center, to get to the cafeteria, at top speed. She hadn't been watching where she was going and prayed that there wasn't anyone in her way. However, that's when she crashed against something.  
  
Within seconds the sky seemed to be filled with endless clouds of paper and she felt herself being pulled to the ground. On instinct, Ariel's body registered her danger and she reached out for anything that could prevent her from continuing her downslide. She felt something like a person's elbow and realized with horror that whatever she had caught fell off balance and came tumbling down towards her.  
  
"OROooo!" She heard the strangled cry, and in milliseconds her mind went numb.  
  
~@~  
  
"OROooo!"  
  
"Are you really the Battousai?"  
  
~@~  
  
They hit the ground, but Ariel was too stunned to notice it, as her mind continued to play back her dream from that morning. She had an urge to look at her victim. Before she did however, she realized that her face was nestled into the shirt folds covering his chest and his arms had somehow managed to find their way around her shoulders. Ariel blushed for a moment at the somewhat intimate position before her defensive nature kicked in and she vainly tried to push away from the person who had toppled down on top of her.   
  
"Let go of me you hentai!" she hissed shakily, as his voice was still fresh in her mind, but her captor did not submit. Instead he grasped her a little tighter as if she was some porcelain doll that would break if he let her go. Ariel struggled a little more, but it didn't work, so she was just about to knee her captor in the gut.   
  
It was at that time that he loosened his grip, and raised himself off her a few inches. They were now in a half sitting, half lying position, and Ariel managed to pull away a little and get a good look at the man who held her. She paled as her eyes made their way to his misty violet, gold-flecked eyes, and she felt a distinct fog that seemed to cradle her heart and mind.  
  
The man who had held her was beyond handsome with long red hair, and boyish features that her fingers ached to trace. As she continued to study his features, the fog over her hert and mind seemed to thicken, and his name easily tumbled from her lips.  
  
"Kenshin..."  
  
Her companion smiled slightly.   
  
"Kaoru-dono..." he whispered. (The TRUE ending of chapter four)   
  
They stayed in that position staring at each other for what seemed like forever, completely oblivious to the strange looks the passerby's were giving them, or the mutters some had been speaking. Some women with small children also passed by and shielded the eyes of their children as they did so, or walked as far a way as they possibly could from the handsome 'couple' lying on the ground.   
  
The 'couple' themselves, didn't seem to care when a small wind picked up and stirred the papers around them, when a small child took notice of them, or when they heard some footsteps fast approaching in the background. The only thing they knew, was that after 120 years or more, they were together again.  
  
The two continued to gaze into one another's eyes, and the air itself seemed to still. Neither one of them wanted to move, to speak, blink, lest the moment they shared turned out to be some fantastic dream that would fade away the instant they did such, and they would lose eachother again.   
  
"Are they gonna kiss?"   
  
A small girl's voice managed to break through the blanket of affection, and made it's way towards the couple, causing a small smile to tug at the corner of their lips. They leaned into one another slightly as they heard her, a little kiss might not be COMPLETELY out of order.  
  
~  
  
"Are they gonna kiss, mommy?" the girl repeated innocently, and her mother stopped for a moment.  
  
"Yoshimi..." she said quietly.  
  
"Nandesuka?" the girl pouted a little.  
  
"You shouldn't be thinking about that."  
  
"But..." the girl nervously watched the ground when her mom turned her stern gaze towards her. When she felt brave enough she opened her mouth again, and smiled cheerfully. "Those two looked like they belonged in a Disney movie!"(I love this line! ^_^)  
  
~  
  
Kali laughed as she heard this and momentarily stopped her advance to the place where her and her friends had heard a crash a little bit ago. However, Don, Alois, and Cathyrn continued until they were about two meters away from where some scattered papers began to show, and looked for the original source.  
  
They were most certainly not expecting the sight that they beheld. There on the ground, surrounded by papers was their beloved tanuki girl with a crimson haired man half sitting, half lying on her. His arms held her in a loving embrace, and their lips hovered about eight centimeters from each other, the gap steadily closing.   
  
"Kami-sama..." Don muttered, and Cathyrn gasped and blushed as she peeked around him.   
  
Alois caught this and immediately became curious as to what would initiate a reaction like that from her right now.   
  
"What is it Cathyrn?" He shoved around the taller man and the shorthaired girl. His eyes become wide as he took in the scenario before him. "Busu?!"  
  
There were some quick, light steps approaching from behind and a familiar figure reached them just in time to hear Alois' proclamation.  
  
"Hey! What about Ariel-chan?" it called, and she shoved her way through the barricade her friends had created.  
  
Her green eyes brightened as she saw the raven-haired girl and the crimson haired man in a 'somewhat' intimate position, and before she knew it her excitement overtook her. "Oh my god! I knew it!" she squealed loud enough for anyone within a kilometer's radius to hear.  
  
~  
  
The two people on the ground quickly pulled away, their lips a hairs breath away from meeting as the high pitched voice pierced the stillness of the air surrounding them. They instinctively looked towards where the commotion was coming from. There they saw a tall man, a young boy, and two 'young' girls approaching. The tall man arrived first and quirked his eyebrow before smiling wickedly, and hovering a little over the 'couple'.  
  
"Jou-chan... I'm surprised at you." He said with a suggestive tone, and he gestured towards her companion.  
  
Ariel blinked confusedly for a moment before she realized that there was a heavier weight draped across her. In shock she looked up towards the weight, and saw a handsome red haired man with wide eyes and unnaturally pale skin.  
  
Her mind went numb and she opened her mouth to scream.  
  
~*~@ To be continued...  
  
Oh dear god! Did I just write that! How embarassing! Thank god this is a fanfic and I'm not Kaoru! Geez I said F@&*, I never cuss and it's wierd to type it in the story. What a odd way for them to meet. That would be so embarrassing. *Blushes at thought of self crashing into, and pulling the guy I'd fall for down on top of me*  
  
I could jus imagine how my friends would act.  
  
~*~  
  
RNA: Lioness did what! Oh wow *winks* I didn't know you were that kind of person lioness-san!  
  
Foxfire9: Cece I didn't know you were like that! *evil grin*  
  
Me: Nani!*blushes and shakes head*  
  
NC: Shimatta! She did what?! We have succeeded! We've succeeded in tainting her innocent mind! She's gone hentai!  
  
Me: Hentai ja nai yo! It was an accident!   
  
NC: No denying it now. We've finally pulled you to the dark side.  
  
Me: Iie!!  
  
RNA: Ohhohohoho!  
  
Me: Huh?  
  
RNA: How was the fall? *winks*  
  
Me: What?  
  
Foxfire9: *pokes* Yeah, tell us.   
  
Me: NANI! *Falls*  
  
NC: *Catches*  
  
Foxfire9: oops  
  
NC: *Shakes* Yare Yare  
  
~*~  
  
Oi vey. O_O  
  
~*~(@)~*~  
  
Well Anyhow, here's the little glossary.  
  
Yoshimi= Happy Beauty (Thank goodness for the Japanese name quiz my friend found!)  
  
Nandesuka?= What is it?  
  
Cathyrn= Peaceful/Innocence  
  
Umay= Hopeful  
  
Kami-sama= God  
  
Hentai ja nai yo!= I'm not a pervert!  
  
~*~(@  
  
For the reviewers in the last chapters, thanks! 


	7. Hajimemashite

Eek! Took me long enough to get this thing out! Although Im not exactly sure how good it is. I had been bitten by the evil writer's block bug. O_O Not only that, I had about another page of writing for this chapter and I somehow managed to toss it out! O_O I hope it sounds okay anyway.  
  
Disclaimer: blah blah blah blah...If I really owned KenshinI'd be cruising around in my brand new Yahct, and 2003 mustang. As I am going to school and living at home with my mother, I'm sure that everyone would agree with me when I say...  
  
I DON'T OWN Kenshin!  
  
That privilage goes to Noubihiro Watsuki. Okay now that I've gotten that out of my system...on with the story! Please r&r!  
  
~*~  
  
Ch 6 (revised)  
  
Hajimemashite  
  
~*~  
  
"Jou-chan... I'm surprised at you." He said with a suggestive tone, and he gestured towards her companion.  
  
Ariel blinked confusedly for a moment before she realized that there was a heavier weight draped across her. In shock she looked up towards the weight, and saw a handsome red haired man with wide eyes and unnaturally pale skin.  
  
~  
  
"Kiyaaaaaa!!!" her mind had barely registered the words 'man, top, stranger,' before she let out an ear piercing scream that would have surely caused her companion to become deaf tenporarily had he not jumped off of her as soon as he realized that he was not where he should have been.  
  
"Ah sumana de gozaru yo!" He cried with his head low to the ground. "Sessha didn't mean it!"  
  
However his word seemed to be lost on the girl who seemed to have lost all semblance of sanity for the time being. Her face was fuming, and her stance was threatening, causing Liam to unconciously shrink back from her.  
  
"Who do you think you are? Hentai!" Her voice was filled with venom, which didn't help the already nervous student much at all.  
  
"Anou! Sessha... Sessha didn't mean it!" he said hesitently, before risking a glance at the fuming girl. "Sessha's not a hentai!"  
  
"You didn't let go of me when I asked you to! Instead, you held me tighter!"  
  
"Oro?! Sessha...doesn't understand"  
  
Ariel's momentarily calm eyes fired up again."You don't understand?!" she said with an annoyed tone, " What do you mean by that, I told you to let me go, and you didn't! You held me tighter!Whats not to understand?!"  
  
"Oro?" "Liam's eyes went wide," had he really done that?, "Demo Sessha did not realize it de gozaru yo...sessha only knows that I tried to stop you from getting hurt."  
  
As if to prove his point, Liam pinted to the corner of the building where her head wwould have been if he hadn't been there. Her eyes widened momentarily and the she shook her head in denial, before they're fire returned.  
  
"How...what!"  
  
~  
  
'jou-chan, I'm surprised at you.'  
  
Ariel suddenly remembered what Don had said momentarily and thought about the shock of when she had discovered the position they had been in herself. She hadn't realized anyhthing either, and she couldn't help but notice the mischievious looks that Kali, and Don had given her. Even Alois had been looking at her as if he had discovered some secret that he really didn't want to see. Then there was Cathyrn who had been blushing and hiding her face. Had something else that she didn't know about happen? Ariel then realized it was a lot more quiet then before and she looked around for her friends. Had they done what she thought they had.  
  
She saw no one, not even Cathyrn, which surprised her. She felt a flutter on the binder that she had somehow managed to hold onto beside her and frowned as she saw a handwritten note."  
  
"yo...break it up" it said, 'see you at the Akabeko, oh and we snatched the tickets when you were having your 'lover's feud'."  
  
Don.  
  
~  
  
Her previous thoughts were lost as her anger flared up for her so called friends.  
  
"Donovan!That jerk! wait till I get my hands on him." she muttered loudly before crinkling up the note he had written to her and tossing it in a nearby trashcan. At this moment she was in the mood to stomp to the Akabeko, and beat Donovan to a bloody pulp, that was until she heard the rustling of other papers, and saw her fiery haired companion picking some up.  
  
Ariel frowned slightly. How could she forget the papers? It was her fault they had landed everywhere. If it hadn't been for her carelessness, they would never had been in the position in the first place. She gave a low sigh and joined her fieryheaded companion by picking up papers around her and seperating them in stacks according to who they belonged to. She really should apologize to him despite how upset she had been before. It's true that the man had continued to hold her when she had told him not to. However,when she tried to think about what had happened after that, everything seemed like a blur. It was like something signifigant had happened and then been erased from her mind in a flash. It was then that she saw a sakura petal on the ground and paled. Those never showed up unless some strange phenomenom had occured, so why was it here now.  
  
"Oro?"  
  
When she looked at her companion, she saw that he to was surprised, but she didn't know why. Her confusion showed in her eyes briefly, before it turned to fear and anticipataion.  
  
"How?"  
  
"Miss?"   
  
Ariel felt a strange feeling come over as she saw the petal, and as if in a trance she approached it and picked it up between her thumb and index finger. It felt like silk between her fingers and she dropped it into her palm before leaning down to kiss it.The petal still had the scent that intoxicated her senses. Afterward, Ariel watched as the petal turned into dust and began it's graceful dance in the wind. Kaoru could feel someone watching her back and she tensed. The girl had almost forgotten that their was another pair of eyes around, and when she looked up she saw her handsome fieryheaded companion staring at her with wide eyes. At first she was confused, but then she blushed profusely and turned her attention back to masive amounts of paper on the ground.  
  
  
  
She didn't notice the small smile that graced her companions lips as he glanced at her out of the corner of his eye.  
  
~  
  
Cathyrn looked behind her with a guilty look on her face.  
  
"Anou...is it really okay that we left them..." she whispered shyly, and Don patted her head.  
  
"Don't worry about Jou-chan, shell be just fine. We're helping her."  
  
"Anou...she was fighting with that person earlier, she didn't look very happy at all."  
  
Now it was Alois's turn to try adn console her, " Anou Cathyrn chan, "Ariel-chan and that person are friends, they need to work out their differences. They'll meet us at the akabeko later."  
  
"Demo..."  
  
"Cathyrn chan!" Kali exclaimed," Ariel chan and that man have been meeting eachother for a long time," Kali was thinking about the drawing she had seen Ariel make, and the description she had given her of the person in her dreams. She had a feeling those two were meant to be together, so she wasn't about to let a chance to get them alone pass by. "She cares a lot about him, and she'd want to get to know him again."  
  
"But why were they fighting?" she asked quietly, and Kali sighed.  
  
"They just had a little disagreement, you saw what was going on when we showed up." Kali stated, and Cathyrn blushed as she remembered their almost kiss.   
  
"That person and Ariel must care a lot about eachother then ne?"Cathyrn stated, and Kali nodded before Cathyrn spoke again."Do you think she'll be mad at us?"  
  
Kali heard and smiled, Ariel would be fuming for a little while, but she couldn't let Cathyrn know that, so she settled to console the 12 year old again. "A little, but it'll be really quick, so don't you worry about it okay!"  
  
"I'll try..."  
  
"Thats a good girl now,"  
  
~  
  
Ariel and Liam had just about cleaned all the papers, except for one or two, but no one had spoken thus far, and Ariel was bothered. This person seemed to be extremely quiet, and she wasn't used to that with Kali,Alois, and Don around. She had a feeling that the only way to get this person to talk was to make the first move herself, and she knew exactly how to do it.  
  
"Anou..."   
  
"hmm..."  
  
"About earlier," Ariel blushed in embarassment, and felt her uneasiness rise, she was not used to such listening ears, but oddly enough, it didn't feel completely out of place, "Sumana, for crashing and yelling at you." there was no response from him, and her slight comfort lessened.  
  
"I...I shouldn't have." Ariel couldn't bring herself to look at her companion, and for a second the silence continued. She began to wonder if he would accept her apology at all, but she felt a light touch on her shoulder and looked up into his violet eyes before seeing him give a friendly smile.  
  
"daijobu desu miss...anou" he said with a hesitent tone, and trailed off as he didn't know her name, but she returned his smile and bowed. She knew what he was asking.  
  
"Umay Ariel desu."   
  
Liam tensed slightly when he heard her voice, and his mind fogged over for a second.  
  
~~~~~~  
  
"Kenshin!"  
  
~~~  
  
He heard a voice of a young woman and tensed even more. He knew that voice...That voice was, Liam looked at the girl who had her back turned towards him. Perhaps he had met her a few years back. He saw the girl turn back towards him and look at him curiously. Shortly thereafter she bowed her head and covered her face. Liam blinked, and turned slightly pink himself. In his quest to try and remember where he had known her from, he realized he had been staring.   
  
"Anou..." he said simply, trying to think of something to say. "Your name is very nice."  
  
"Arigato gozaimasu..." she spoke quietly, and started ringing her hands. Liam nodded his head. "Doozu Yoroshiku?"  
  
"AA," Liam heard her question, and bowed slighty, "Sumimasen, Ore wa Sedgewick Liam desu, Hajimemashite."  
  
"Ee," She answered, and they continued their talk.  
  
A light wind blew around the two, and they looked down to see some more of their papers fluttering away.   
  
"Oh no!" Ariel called before standing up and grabbing some, she noticed her companion do the same. Even as they worked, Ariel could imagine the sight they would have made being two grown people grabbing for some papers, but still they retrieved just about all of them and returned most of the loose papers to their binders before they laughed.   
  
Ariel's heart fluttered as she heard him. She liked his laugh, it was rich and smooth sounding. If they became better friends she'd have to make him do that more often.  
  
~  
  
The queen of the fates smiled as she saw the two people below her laughing together. She had never seen the red haired man like this when she was with him so many years ago, but she liked it, and she knew some of what it had to do with. It was the spirit of the girl who he laughed with at this moment in time.  
  
Truthfully, in the past, this very same girl had managed to rekindle his broken spirit when he felt there was no more reason for him to live. The sins he had committed had crushed his pride and happiness beyond belief.   
  
Now as the woman stood watching them in the window of sight, It was strange to be the one who was to get the two together. For at one time she had been down there, sent by the gods to tame the souls of the broken hearted. One of the most serious cases was the one of the boy called Himura Kenshin, then known as the hitokiri battousai. He had been a kind boy, torn to bits by the death of his parents, kidnapping by slave trader, and witness to the brutal murder of his new founders, and chaos of the meiji revolution. As the woaman thought of this shivers went down her spine. The memories of that time had often haunted the queen, but now as she stood watching the scene before her, a new relaxation came over her. She felt the arms of someone come around her.  
  
"How goes it now Tomoe?" the voice stated, and a strange smile crossed her face. This man was Akira, her first and true love. He had been killed by the battousai, and for a while Tomoe could think of nothing but revenge for the crimson-haired man. However, by a chance of fate, she had met with the battousai under unexpected circumstances. The boy took her to the quarters of his master and during that time she had plotted her revenge more fully, but through another manipulation of fate, the master of Battousai told her to become the boy's sheath. While she had been performing her task to tame the madness that lied within the hitokiri, she had fallen in love with him as well.   
  
Then her death had come to complete the battousai's taming, and for her to be reunited with her love that had been stolen away from her. After her death however, his spirit had been broken and torn once more, and the worthlessness he had always felt came back ten fold. The only way to save him then, was to make him realize his true value. The only way for that to occur, was for him to meet one with a spirit brighter then the sun, and smile for everyone. After ten years he had found her, and had been taken away by yet another war, only to die in the arms of the spirited girl as soon as he had returned ten years after that. However, even as death claimed the crimson haired man, the two had made a single wish simultaneously. They had wished that they would be able to meet again and live together in peace. After 120 years, that time had finally arrived.  
  
Tomoe caused the reminder of the wish and the promise the two had made to appear and dissapear. The petals were sent in order to speed up the process of their recognition. And her task was to drop them whenever there was a flashback, or temporary relapse into the person's the couple once was. However, the time for them to remember everything had not come just yet. They had to become reaquainted, or their relationship could easily be based on false emotions. Tomoe felt the arms of her love still around her and smiled mysteriously before she answered her other half's question.  
  
"It's very well, very well indeed."  
  
~*~  
  
To be continued.....  
  
~~*~~  
  
I don't like this chapter too much. But then again I had writer's block, so it's no surprise. At least it's better then the unrevised one was. *sighs* Although, I think Alois and them are a little OOC in the scene with the three. (Do you have any idea how much I stressed over that scene! O_O I didn't like it at all!)  
  
Glossary- nice and short  
  
Anou =um  
  
Daijoubu desu= It's okay  
  
Doozu Yoroshiku= Your name is?  
  
Hjimemashite= Nice to meet you  
  
Ore wa _______ desu. = I am (masculine)_________  
  
Other notes: I made and finished another Kenshin story called, "Truth". Yes, it's KK love, but it's a one-shot! I don't think it turned out too bad either. So if you enjoy waff, check it out and review! (click on my profile name) 


	8. Akabeko

Eek! Gomen! gomen! It's been over a month since I last updated this story! Im so bad! I didn't mean for it to take so long, but I'll try to be quicker next time, and maybe I'll even have two chapters up then.   
  
*lightning- storm gets smacked with a bokken*  
  
Kaoru: I can't wait forever you know! Hyaku! Hyaku!(hurry, hurry)  
  
me: Ah! Sumana de gozaru yo!  
  
Kaoru: Eh? You sound like Kenshin.  
  
me: *sweatdrop* Ehhehehe. oops.  
  
Kaoru: Baka. *gets whacked again*  
  
me: *Rubbing area where smacked* Ah hidoi-yo Kaoru-san!(you're mean)  
  
Kaoru: Now you sound like Ayu from those strange moving pictures people call Kanon! How did they squeeze the people in that strange box you call TV anyways?  
  
Me: *sweatdrop*  
  
Disclaimer: Okay then, once again Kenshin does not belong to me, it belongs to Noubihiro Watsuki, jump comics, and any other company that distributed it to the people.   
  
Chapter7  
  
~~*~~  
  
The Akabeko  
  
Cathryn followed her frieds quietly to the the Akabeko, but anyone could tell that she was disturbed.Alois noticed and looked at her curiously. "Are you still upset about leaving Busu behind?" he asked impatiently and Cathryn blushed deeply.  
  
"Anou..anou..."  
  
"Speak up!"  
  
Cathryn jumped at Alois's words and for a moment couldn't say anything, but it was only a moment, and soon she was able to talk.  
  
"Ah...sumimasen!" She called, and Alois looked at her somewhat annoyed. "Sumimasen but that person she was with looked really fa...familar. Maybe Im just being si..silly again."  
  
"Nah,"Alois answered but as she spoke, and he seemed like he was thinking about somthing. Then his eyes brightened up, as well as the other people who were with them.  
  
"Now that I think about it," Don spoke, "The little runt did look familiar but I can't..."  
  
"Himura-san!" Kali interrupted, and Don and Alois looked at her strangely,while Cathryn jumped. Kali continued, "I think that's his name, as a matter of fact when I think about it, I think I've even heard someone call him that before, But I can't remember who. I don't think I've ever met Himura-san but..."  
  
Alois was getting annoyed again and he nearly said something to Kali when Don saw the Akabeko and placed his hand rather roughly on the boys head.  
  
"Not yet..." he stated and Alois saw Don with his eyes focused ahead of them.  
  
"Hey what was that..."Alois said, but then following Don's gaze, Alois's eyes lit up at the sight of the building ahead of them. They had fiannly arrived at the Akabeko, and without a second's thought, the four hurried in, forgetting they had ever seen the red haired man in the first place. They hadn't gotten far before they nearly crashed into a man with with chin length dark brown hair, a gotee and some glasses. His seemed to giving on of the party memebrs a glare, and there was the the title of the asst. manager on his work shirt.  
  
"You again!" The man said as he saw Don enter the Akabeko. " What are you doing here? You haven't payed your debts yet and you want more food!"  
  
"Oy oy!" Don said to the assistant manager of the akabeko."I'll pay it eventually."  
  
The man obviously didn't believe him, but Don showed him the ticket. "Besides, I have a ticket for a reservation this time."  
  
"And...your point is..." he looked like he was about to take the tickets aways from Don. "That would take care of one of you debts, so if I take it away..." Just then a woman with shoulder length brown hair and the name tag that labeled her as the manager saw the scene.  
  
Donovan! Alois! Cathryn! Kali! You're finally here." Saada said to the four.   
  
The man blinked and looked at her. "They've got reservations?"  
  
"Hai hai Auggie-kun!"  
  
At first he looked as if he would grudgingly accept it, but then a curious look crossed his face as if he just thought about something. "Wait a minute..." he trailed off, and glared at Donovan before crossing his arms and looking back at his superior."We don't even give reservations here."  
  
"It's a special occasion," she said simply, and if you remember correctly, on certain occasions reservations will be given upon asking. Its part of Akabeko rule number 17."  
  
She smiled brightly, and then looked at Don. Her face visibly darkened, "but this is the ONLY exception Sagara Donovan! If you don't start paying your debts after this...we're going to blockade your entrance into the restaurant." Saada huffed, and put her hands on her hips before heading to the reservation quarters.  
  
"Follow me you four," she muttered, and walked through the doors that led to the seperate rooms of the Akabeko. Augustine continued his glaring at Donovan, Cathryn shrunk back some while Kali skipped in and Alois looked suspiciously at the new asst. manager. Instead of the glare the man had given Donovan however, they were greeted with a broad smile and a wave of his hand. The three were rather surprised.  
  
~  
  
Augustine grinned as he saw his superior lead the party of four into the rooms reserved for special occasions. He was quite happy that she had also scolded Donovan. As a matter of fact he had memorized that blockade rule by heart for just those kind of situations. It was rule number twelve, at least that's what Augustine thought, but he was very bad with numbers, so it could have been something completely different. What really mattered to him was the   
  
circumstances outlined in the rule. It stated if anyone neglected to pay their debts, stole from the restaurant, or assaulted a customer/manager would be banned from the Akabeko until they could pay back, get a warrant from the police, or show signifigant change in behavior. Sagara Donovan was was only one of the people who owed them. As Augustine was thinking this he heard a jingle from the door and saw several people enter.   
  
"Welcome to the Akabeko!" He exclaimed, and sauntered over to them.  
  
~  
  
Don, Alois, Cathryn, and Kali arrived at one of the last reserved rooms of the Akabeko, and the manager stopped them, before creeking the door open slightly, and looking back at her guests. "Just a moment you guys," she said quietly," I need to check and see if everything's ready."  
  
Don huffed impatiently and Saada turned her eyes on him, "Don't huff at me. Rememeber, I have every right to kick you out at this time based on your debts. Which consist of..." Saada trailed off and pulled out an electronic organizer that had been in her apron pocket. "Lets see, Baker, Bookman,Cambell,Candy, Chantel, oh here it is Cheveyo, $253.60! You have only payed about 65 of that." Saada glared, "You're lucky you have such good friends to cover for you, and pay ALL their debts."  
  
"Oi! Oi! It can't be THAT much," Don said, "You trying to set me up?!"  
  
"Im flattered you thank so high of me, but he average debt before blokade becomes relevant, is normally around 110 dollars." Saada said simply, before closing her orgainzer and placing it back in her pocket. "And the reciepts don't lie."   
  
Don was quiet for a little and Alois and Kali snickered. It was no easy task to get Don to stop talking about something, but Saada could do it at times as well as Asa.  
  
After Don got his thoughts back together, he opened his mouth to protest more when a mature voice pierced the atmosphere.   
  
"What's that stupid rooster head saying now?"  
  
Don bristled a little. " Who you callin' a stupid rooster vixen."  
  
Don smirked as he saw the woman bristle. Then a mischievious look crossed her face.  
  
"Why the big idiot in the middle of the hall." she stated.  
  
"Listen you!"  
  
"Okay! Can it. You'll scare off the customers." Saada stated as she recognized the oncoming arguement, Don and Asa scowled, and were silenced, But Saada just looked at them cooly, "That's better now come in and eat!"  
  
A few grumbles were heard from the two as they entered but that was quickly cut off when many more voices chimed out.  
  
"Happy belated birthday Alois!"  
  
The boy was a little startled at the friends he saw around the wooden table in the center, but more so with the other surroundings in the room. There were pillows for everyone to sit on and intricate pictures of samurai and battles around the four walls. One wall even had an exhibit case that held exquisite swords, wakizashi, and daggers in it. Not only that, Bonzai trees were in the four corners of the room and the air was fragrant with their scent. A television hung at the center wall of the room.   
  
"Woah!" Alois exclaimed as his eyes widened. He had no idea that they had been planning this, he thought everyone had forgotten his 13th birthday. "Who set it up? They picked all my favorite things!"  
  
"Hai, Tanuki outdid herself when she came up with this." Asa reluctantly put in. She didn't get a long too well with Ariel, but she still cared for the spunky girl as a sister would to her annoying little sibling.  
  
"Busu did this!" Alois shouted. "Why did that ugly girl plan something like this!"  
  
"Alois!" chimed Cathryn, but was quickly interruppted by the manager's voice.  
  
"No appreciation." The manager stated to the boy and he regarded her curiously,"Ariel felt bad about missing your birthday since she was teaching that day. She just wanted to make it up to you." Saada then looked around at the faces in the room, and realized that the dark haired girl wasn't anywhere around. "speaking of Ariel-chan" she stated matter of factly, "Where is she?"  
  
Don, Kali, Alois, and Cathryn looked at the floor.   
  
"What did you four do?" Saada asked while eyeing them suspiciously.  
  
~~FLASH~~  
  
"Ah sumana de gozaru yo!" The man cried with his head low to the ground. "Sessha didn't mean it!"  
  
However his word seemed to be lost on the girl who seemed to have lost all semblance of sanity for the time being. Her face was fuming, and her stance was threatening, causing Liam to unconciously shrink back from her.  
  
"Who do you think you are? Hentai!" Her voice was filled with venom, which didn't help the already nervous student much at all.  
  
"Anou! Sessha... Sessha didn't mean it!" he said hesitently, before risking a glance at the fuming girl. "Sessha's not a-"  
  
"I think this may be awhile, but it's entertaining." Don had snickered to Alois.  
  
"Busu and her stupid fights!" Alois' stomach growled, "And I'm hungry too."  
  
At that moment Don saw the needed tickets peeking out of Ariel's purse and a mischievious look crossed his face. "Lets go then."   
  
He glanced at the two girls and saw a shocked Cathryn as she took in the arguement, and Kali doing all she could not to laugh at the scene the two people made in front of them. Afterwards, Don removed his eyes and looked back at the purse to see a pen, and some notebook paper peeking out as well. His mischievious look returned.  
  
"We'll just borrow these for a bit."  
  
~~END FLASH~~  
  
"Oh," Don put in as he noticed everyones eyes on him," she was a little busy at the college, but she'll come later."  
  
It hadn't been a total lie, since she had been busy yelling at the guy. However Don, as well as his companions wondered what had happened with the arguement.  
  
~  
  
Ariel dusted herself off as she stood up, and looked at the handsome man out of the corner of her eye with a smile. She had no idea how fun it could be when you were trying to organize things. Perhaps it was just the companion that she was with that made it seem nicer. If Alois or Donovan were around, she'd still have fun bickering with them, but she rather enjoyed laughing and smiling over that. As Ariel considered this she looked around and noticed that all their papers had been picked up and felt oddly disappointed. Now they would have to part ways, and she wasn't sure when they'd bump into eachother again. Afterall, it was a crowded college.  
  
"aa...sumimasen" she put in hesitently, and her companion looked at her with curious eyes, "soro soro shitsurei shimasu" She did not understand why she was acting this way. True, she had just met this person, but she wasn't used to feeling like a shy little school girl no matter who she bumped into around the campus. As a matter of fact she couldn't remember the last time she had felt this shy, but she knew she had at one time. However, that was a long time ago. Her eyes glazed over as she thought of something in the long distant past, but the thought was quickly stolen away by this man's distant voice.  
  
"Soo desuka," her companion returned in calmly. Ariel was somewhat annoyed at how calm his demeanor had seemed since she had met him. It was kind of relaxing, but it also made her nervous at times. Perhaps it was because she was used to the chaotic disagreements and teasing that tended to ensue when her and her friends were together. Nonetheless, Ariel stepped back so she could bow good-bye, as was the custom when seperating ways. Before she could however, she heard a crack and felt her foot sink into something soft. Ariel brought her eyes down to her foot and disgustedly removed her sandaled foot from the object.   
  
"Mou!" she exclaimed when she saw it.  
  
"Oro!"   
  
There underneath Ariel's foot was the remains of a tuna fish sandwich. For some reason her companion stared at it, but then he silently leaned down to pick it up and threw it in the garbage can.  
  
"That was my lunch de gozaru yo," he explained and Ariel's eyes widened as she heard.   
  
"Could first impressions get any worst?" she muttered under her breath. First she crashed into this kind and handsome man, then she had screamed at him, and then she ruined his lunch. Ariel frowned and gasped in exasperation.  
  
"Mou! Today has got to be one of the worst days I've ever experienced this semester!"   
  
"Oro!"  
  
She didn't seem to hear him and continued, "First there was that dream, then I was late to my class, then I lost my drawing, then I ticked off the teacher somehow, then I was released late, then I crashed into you, then my friends stole my tickets, and now I've ruined your lunch!" she gestured to her dirtied sandal.   
  
"Ano...draw-" Liam was quickly interuppted by the girl.  
  
"Whatever happened to my good luck!" she cried.  
  
~  
  
"Etou...atashi wa-"  
  
"I'm sorry Sedgewick-san, I have to make it up to you." she spoke again, and Liam cringed at her formality.  
  
Although Ariel was showing him the customary respect of a new aquaintance, it just didn't sound right coming from her mouth. He actually preferred her to call him as she would a friend, but he couldn't really explain why.   
  
"Sumimasen Sedgewick-san!" Ariel repeated, and Liam focused back on her.  
  
"Iie, sessha doesn't mind, that he doesn't." He responded.Whuch was true,afterall he could always get another sandwhich, and the girl was obviously excitable. The air seemed to go heavy and he heard Ariel's dejected voice.  
  
"I do though."   
  
Her tone surprised him and he looked at her with wide eyes.He desired to comfort her and opened his mouth to speak when he noticed her perk up, surprising him yet again.  
  
"I know!" she had exclaimed,"Come with me to the Akabeko!"  
  
~*~  
  
To be continued...  
  
Oy vey! Maybe I'm being harsh on myself, but I'm not too fond of this chapter. Then again, it hasn't been edited yet. I just posted it because it had been so long since I last updated. Anyhow, if you're still following this story, I'll try to edit and get out my next chapter(s) more quickly. R&R!  
  
Glossary:   
  
soro soro shitsurei shimasu- I should be going now  
  
Soodeska- really/allright 


	9. Situation

Because my old chapter eight got violent too quickly, I completely redid it. I realy liked the description of the action in the old chapter eight though, so I'm probably going to add something similar to it later on.(way later, if I ever finish this thing)   
  
This revision is a hundred times milder, and more closely related to the original plan I had for chapter 8. I took off the old chapter nine, and was going to wait until I finished the new one, but it's taking way too long. bows a hundred times over, and falls swirly eyed. Forgive me?  
  
Disclaimer: Do you really think I own Kenshin? Well maybe in my dreams, but I'm afraid that in reality it's just not the case. After all, Noubihiro Watsuki is not blonde with green eyes, nor is he American, or a young college student in the United States. Wouldn't you agree? I repeat R&R!  
  
A Situation  
  
Oro?" he stated in confusion and the girl seeming to understand brightened before continuing her sentence.  
  
"It's the restaurant across the street! My friends and me had a reservation for Alois' birthday! It was only for five, but Saada-san is a good friend of mine and she won't mind if there's an extra person!"   
  
Liam thought the invitation was very kind, but he couldn't possibly agree to it. After all, he had just met Ariel, and didn't think it would be right to impose on her and her friends during the celebration. "Ah...sessha...sessha doesn't know if that would be a good idea. I..."  
  
"Its the least I could do for ruining your lunch." She was persistent.  
  
"Well I-" his stomach growled in hunger and he blushed in embarrassment as he saw the girl stifle a giggle.  
  
"It sounds like you're a little hungry," she paused for a moment, "but if you have class or something..." Her voice sounded very distant, and somehow Liam didn't feel that it fit her. Perhaps he would agree to her invitation after all.   
  
"Iie, kurasu ja nai yo," he responded calmly and truthfully. He could tell she had relaxed some, so he continued. "Besides," putting his hand on his stomach, "I am little hungry."  
  
Liam saw Ariel brighten, and he had a feeling that this spirit was much closer to her true nature. He didn't know how he knew, but he did. Perhaps it was because of their meeting earlier. Whatever the case, Liam saw his companion go a little ahead of him.  
  
"Oro" He stated, and before long the girl turned and gestured for him to follow her.  
  
Soon after leaving the college the two people arrived at the Akabeko, and the manager who had spoken to Don, Kali, Alois and Cathyrn earlier was there to address them.   
  
"Welcome to the Akabeko!" He exclaimed with a cheerful tone, and not bothering for them to respond, headed towards the main dining hall. "Let me show you to a table."   
  
Ariel knew that the man was just doing his job, but he was leading them away from their destination, trying not to be rude by just disappearing she spoke in a slight protest.  
  
"Ah sumimasen, sir " she stated, but the man did not respond. Thinking he didn't hear her, Ariel spoke again a little louder, "Sir..."  
  
The man stopped momentarily, but didn't turn around, and Ariel continued, " We're actually meeting some friends of ours in the reservation quarters. Do you know which room Cheveyo Donovan is in?" she asked innocently and saw their escort frown some at the name. Ariel knew that Donovan was a magnet for trouble at times, and as she saw the manager's face, she had a feeling that he had once again made his mark for trouble manifest, but she wasn't sure how he had done it.   
  
"You're friends with him?" she heard her escort ask, with some disapproval in his voice, and Ariel looked at him with a confused look on her face.   
  
"Hai." she whispered, Then thinking about Donovans's love for fighting and gambling, she frowned herself before continuing. "Mou! What did he do this time? Did he break into another brawl?"  
  
"No, not yet," the dark haired man stated, " but he owes a big dept to the restaurant."  
  
Ariel frowned, it wasn't gambling or breaking into fights, but it was still something, and hadn't Donovan told her he paid those weeks ago. She had even given him some more money to borrow, but now that she thought about it, she should have known better then to trust such an irresponsible baka.  
  
"Mou!" Ariel exclaimed again, "You mean he STILL hasn't paid that?" and their escort shook his head. "Wait until I get my hands on that guys I'll..." her mumbled voice faded out, as there was some ruckus in the main dining hall.   
  
"Huh? What's that?" she said as she heard the noise, and the manager turned towards the direction of the ruckus before seemingly forgetting the people he was with. He headed towards the main hall.  
  
Ariel had decided to allow her curiosity to take over, and follow him, forgetting about her red headed companion. However, before she could take more then five steps, a strong hand grasped the upper part of her arm, and she yelped. The girl turned her head and saw her red haired companion with a serious look on his face.  
  
"What was that for?" She said with slight irritation, but once she saw the concerned look on his face her irritation dropped to a mild curiosity. "Sedgewick- san?"   
  
The man let go of his companion arms and turned towards her slightly. "It could be dangerous, that it could," he stated simply, "So, it's better that you stay here."  
  
"Eh?" Ariel questioned. Her friend had disappeared around the corner and the girl became aware that she had been left to stand in the hall alone. Somewhat irritated the girl stomped her foot and headed to where she had seen her companion disappear off too. "What does he think I am, a porcelain doll!" She mumbled, as she ignored what her friend had said and rounded the corner. There she saw the dark haired manager giving two men and invitation out the door, and them reluctantly complying. However, she was not much interested in this. She wanted to find Sedgewick-san, so she easily walked by the manager and his guests. A litttle ways away she saw her red haired companion looking suspiciousy at some men in the far corner of the restaurant. The atmosphere around them was thick with silent tension, and Ariel almost wished she had stayed back at the entrance. For this tension was suffocating. However, being the naturally curious girl that she was, Ariel ignored her discomfort and stepped closer to the crimson haired man. She saw him tense immensly as he turned towards her.  
  
"Ariel- Dono," he stated simply, when there was no answer he continued speaking, "It would have been better if you stayed back at the entrance."  
  
Ariel put her hands on her hips and huffed stubbornly as she heard him. "Mou! Why is that?"   
  
Liam didn't say anything, but seemed to rather reluctantly turn away from the scene where the two men seemed to be about ready to attack eachother. When the tension seemed to lesson just a smidgen he turned away rather reluctantly and walked towards her while shrugging his shoulders. "Iie," he said simply, "it's nothing." With one of his half smiles, the man walked past her. "Now wheres this-"  
  
Before the red haired man could finish his sentence, he seemed to freeze momentarily. He then grabbed Ariel's arm and roughly pulled her towards the floor.  
  
"Liam!" Ariel squawked as her friend yanked her down towards the tile floor rather ruthlessly. She wanted to pound his head a thousand times over for being so rough; however, the sound of shattering glass and a gun firing off supressed all such thoughts. Instead, Ariel looked towards the direction where the sound had come from and saw a splash of sake creeping down the wall ever so slowly, and large, jagged pieces of glass scattering to the floor in all directions.There was a hole that had to be made by a gun where her head had been. She did not realize that her friend had pulled her into a shielding embrace, and continued staring at the area where her head had been in shock. She heard cursing from the man who had greeted them on there way in the restaurant as he seemed to stomp towards the two in the back of the room.   
  
When Ariel looked over her friends shoulder she saw the two men in what appeared to be an intense brawl. There was a small gun on the floor, and they seemed to have lost a ll semblance of sanity as they attacked each other. Ariel saw the dark haired man, or Augustine, as his name tag stated try to break up the fight. He had grabbed someone from behind and appeared to be doing what she knew as a type of Judo hold. Unfortunately the man he was holding seemed to know some kind of way to break out of it, and Augustine was soon empty handed.  
  
"Damn it!" Augustine exclaimed as he attempted to try and restrain the man again. He really needed someone to call security, and if Saada was around, she'd be the perfect canidate. The man made as good as a look as he possibly could without letting his "victim" go, and soon saw her step in the room. There was a gasp of horror in her eyes as she saw what was going on. Augustine caught sighed of her and exclaimed in a some what tired voice. "Don't just stand there, call security!"  
  
"On it sir!" the woman jumped before she hurriedly walked towards the telephone.   
  
Meanwhile the manager was still struggling, and Liam finally decided to help the younger man. He walked over to the scene, and despite his smll size managed to pull one of the men away from eachother. Shortly thereafter the person that Liam had managed to capture was able to break away, and hit the man in his jaw. Ariel froze in worry momentarily as she saw her friend stumble backwards and hurried towards him.  
  
"Kenshin!" she cried out unconciously as she made her way towards the scene. The red headed man momentarily lost his concentration and looked at the girl running towards him in surprise. He did not notice his previous captive throwing a punch towards him agin, until almost too late, and had to be warned by Ariel once agin. With her warning fresh in his mind, Liam ducked and managed to block the attack. Since he was small however, it didn't seem have as much effect as it would have had otherwise. Once Augustine had gotten back on his feet he had managed to knock one of the men out. Using his wooden sword, Liam himself managed to knock the other person out with ease.  
  
"Sedgewick-san?" The girl's high voice was rleieved as she reached the two men. She bowed politely towards the manager and then hurried to her friend's side. She remebered that before he was knocked out cold, the man whom Liam had been attacking managed to get in a few hits and grasped his wrist as she reached him.  
  
"Are you all right?" the girl asked desperately and Liam said he was before she loosened her grip on his wrist. However she was not ready to let go just yet.  
  
"I'm glad," Ariel responded and them turned towards the manager and asked him the same thing. He said he was just fine and Ariel nodded before Saada joined the trio. There were two men that Ariel hadn't recognized behind her, and they quickly pushed past and gathered up the figures on the floor. When she looked up she saw her old friend and confident looking at her with a curious look.   
  
"Uh oh." Ariel thought to her self as the woman looked her over. The woman put her hands together and lifted them to her bosom. (Bust)  
  
"So good to see you again, Ariel-chan," The woman stated in a much too sweet tone. She looked over the two in front of her carefully, and smiled. Ariel shuffled uncomfortably under her older friend's penetrating gaze. "Is this man a sweetheart that you never told me about?"  
  
"Oro!"   
  
Ariel became quite red, and shook her head vigorously as her friend continued to mutter a string of 'oro's' besides her. They both had become a little more interested in the floor then there surroundings, and did not look at the woman's face, which was now full of pure amusement. Saada was about to play on her little tease when there was a ringing from the restaurant entrance.  
  
"Oh what do you know?" The woman stated, "another customer."   
  
The woman began to walk towards the front of the entrance, but then turned back towards Ariel and smiled, "Talk to you later Ariel-chan!"   
  
As the woman disappeared Ariel gave an audible sigh of relief, and saw as the Manager left and followed Saada's example. When there was no one else around, and nothing else to do, Ariel sighed and began walking towards the entrance of the restaurant.  
  
"Well I guess thats about it, " she stated cheerfully, before facing Liam, "time to finally make an appearence at Alois' party."   
  
Ariel and Liam brushed passed Saada, but remembering that taking Liam to the reservation qaurters would require permission she stopped in her tracks, and called for the woman in charge of the qaurters.  
  
"Oh Saada!" she exclaimed and the brown haired woman quickly turned towards her.  
  
"Hmm?"  
  
"I'm sorry, but I needed to ask your permission for Liam to be with us in the reservation quarters, he-"  
  
"Oh sure, go ahead." Saada said without a moment's hesitation."Bye now."  
  
As she saw the woamn bounce towards another table with some customers following behind, Ariel lowered her head and growled in irritation. "She wasn't even listening."   
  
Nonetheless, the two walked towards the quarters. They paused for a moment looking for a sign that would show them there and Saada bustled by a few more times before stopping and speaking out.  
  
"You're still here!" she said as she shoved the two people towards a hallway a little ways a head of them."Whats all this dawdling about, get to that party!" The two looked at the woman briefly, before seeing her pointing towards the hall, and quickened their pace. They didn't notice her smile of approval and amusement.   
  
"Those two would look so nice together." she chuckled, "Now if only I could get them together."   
  
The wheels of matchmaking started turning in Saada's mind and slowly but surely she grinned like a chesire cat. "If they don't do it themselves," she stated, her smile wider, "Operation cupid will go in session."  
  
The woman cracked her knuckles as she thought of all the ways she could "accidently," get them to bump into each other, but before she could really get into the plans, work once again called her back to the real world.  
  
"Waitress!" the new customers called, and Saada turned towards the area where a young man with big blue eyes, a woman with blue eyes, and another with red eyes and hair tied in a ponytale sat. There was a strange atmosphere around them that really bothered her, but she couldn't keep them waiting. So, instead of worrying about trivial things that could harm her job security, she stepped over to the trio.   
  
) To be continued  
  
Well here's the complete revision of chapter eight of reincarnate. Quite different then the original, wouldn't you say? Oh well, it's just a chapter to throw in something a little different and get some more people to meet up. There's probably a lot more I could do to it, but I am SO tired of typing it! (This chapter! Not the story! This chapter went through like 5 different COMPLETE revisions and ideas! Oi) Hopefully I'll get away from the restaurant next chapter, and REALLY get this story rolling.If I don't, the chapter after that will surely do it. 


	10. Meet the Gang

Woohoo! Chapter nine revised and ready to go! Finally! And it's the longest one yet! Please review!  
  
Disclaimer: Kenshin does not, will not, and can not ever belong to me. Although in my dreams, anything's possible. wink   
  
This stands for flashback   
  
Ariel and Liam hurried down the reservation hallway listening for any clues that would tell them where the party was at. She made the mistake of glancing back at her companion and noticed a distracted look on his face. She had no idea that he was thinking about the trio they had seen on the way here.  
  
"Sedgwick-san?" Ariel asked him curiously, and the man shrugged his shoulders. He sped up slightly, as if he was trying to avoid any impending questions. When he got about halfway down the hallway Liam slowed down and waited for the girl. She passed him up momentarily, but after hearing some muffles in a nearby room, slowed to a complete stop. Lost in his thoughts, Liam didn't notice and accidentally bumped into her.  
  
"Ah...sumanai," he whispered.  
  
Ariel didn't seem to notice and shortly thereafter started heading towards a door at the end of the hallway where she heard some familiar murmurings. She noticed that Don and Asa were arguing and sighed as she tossed her hands in the air.  
  
"Mou!" she exclaimed, "Don and Asa are at it again!" with a frustrated sigh, she stalked over to the door and put her hand on the knob. "Why don't they just admit that they love each other, and stop it with these love-hate games?" Ariel growled. She put her hand on the handle and turned towards her companion. All hints of irritation were no longer present. "Here we are Sedgwick-san."   
  
The red haired man nodded solemnly, and she asked him if he was okay. Rather then answering however, Liam smiled weakly, his violet eyes darting back in forth between the hallway and the dining room. He paused before facing his companion.  
  
"Sedgwick-san?" Ariel asked. The man tensed slightly.  
  
"Call me Liam." He stated, and the girl's eyes widened slightly before she dropped her hand and lowered her eyes to the floor.   
  
"Liam..." she stated quietly. Her friend smiled and started to push open the door. When he heard some of the voices in the room, he seemed a little hesitant. Ariel looked at him curiously, wondering what he was thinking about, but she didn't say anything in response. Instead she watched how the color in his eyes seemed to change between a calm violet and a piercing blue.  
  
Liam was beginning to second guess his decision to go with the girl to the restaurant. He didn't know these people that he was about to meet, or if they would really be all right with the appearance of someone who had no direct or indirect knowledge of the person they were celebrating for. The man almost backed away from the doorway, but before he followed through with his idea the high voice of his friend came to forefront of his mind.  
  
'I know! Come with me to the Akabeko!'  
  
Remembering how enthusiastic Ariel was when she invited him to the restaurant, Liam's doubts seemed to fade, and he carefully opened up the door. The scene that greeted him upon entrance was interesting to say the least. There was a smaller girl jumping and practicing Karate punches and kicks, and an older man clapping and shouting lewd comments here and there in response, two girls were next to him, slapping each other with some boxing gloves, and two men flinging water at each other on the other side of him. A spiky haired youth was practicing kata movements with a dull blade, and a spiky haired man was sitting on a pillow with a glass of Sake clutched tightly in his hand. He was glaring at a stunning woman with a crafty grin on her face. In the middle of a room, sitting around a black, gold trimmed table, sat a brunette child and a man with graying hair, drinking tea calmly and quietly.   
  
Their calmness seemed a little out of place in this room full of life and excitement, but Liam paid it no heed. His eyes became drawn to the various paintings on the wall. All showed exciting events and duels between samurai and other types of soldiers and he couldn't help but take one small step forward. One painting in particular caught his attention, and Liam felt a type of connection with the scene. As all the paintings it was black in gold with outlines of various forms, but this particular one included a small swordsman with long hair tied in a high ponytail, and a cross scar on his left cheek. There were flags going up in the background. If he could Liam would have liked to step closer to the painting but before he could he felt someone grab his arm. In his foggy state of mind, Liam took the movement as a threat and whirled around before tightly grasping the figure's arm. He heard something hit the floor, and the figure he caught gasped. Some figures around the room jumped at the sound and turned towards the couple.  
  
Liam's eyes regained their normal shine and his eye sight filled with the vision of raven locks, pale skin, and wide blue frightened eyes. Liam gave a hesitant laugh and quickly let go of the girl's arm.   
  
The girl who seemed to be just getting over the shock that went through her body as he whirled on her, nodded dumbly. There was an uncomfortable tension surrounding the pair, and the two looked at the floor seemingly finding the movements of their shoes more interesting then the other. That's when both noticed a drop of blood on the ground. Ariel's eyes widened in shock and Liam felt a tingling sensation on his left cheek. He quickly reached to it and felt warm sticky blood. There were no words that could describe the surprise on their faces as the man withdrew his hand. There was a thin line there that quickly smoothed back into its original form, and Ariel would have fainted had her friend not caught her form in his arms. Strangely enough, no one else seemed to notice the odd happening.   
  
"Konnichiwa," and older man interrupted the moment, and two little girls with him burst into a chorus of, "Oneesan!Konnichi! Konnichi! Oneesan" and ran towards Ariel. They grabbed both of her hands, and Ariel smiled weakly before glancing back towards the area where she had saw the blood. It was no longer there. Her companion seemed to have lost his pleasant facade and looked as he had in the hall way. There was a deep, determined look on his face, and his eyes were flickering between violet, and Amber, much to Ariel's surprise.  
  
The children noticed that something was wrong with their ni- san' and tugged at her hands. "Oneesan!"The older one muttered, "What's wrong?"  
  
The smallest one echoed her sister's words, and Ariel blanked out for a minute before a forced laugh escaped her lips.  
  
"Nothing, Lila and Sara!" Ariel exclaimed in a barely discernable strained voice. Most of the people in the room could not tell the difference, but Kali, her grandfather, and the four around him managed to pick up the strain in her voice. After all, they had been trained in a home that demanded that its members train their senses to be more sensitive then the average being. There was a reason that had been lost over the years, but now it happened to be a long standing tradition amongst the family. The results of the training caused everyone in the family to pick up things that most people couldn't, and strain that was barely discernable was one of them. Kali looked at her friend curiously for a second but then she smiled and greeted them. She wasn't about to ruin a party.  
  
"Konnichiwa!" The train of voices followed, and Ariel greeted everybody with her strained smile.   
  
"Oy! What took you long!" exclaimed Donovan.  
  
"There was an incident at the college," Ariel whispered as her thoughts jumped between the college and the disappearing blood.  
  
Ariel pointed to her friend Liam, and smiled, doing all she could to forget about what had happened. "This is Sedgwick Liam."  
  
The red haired man didn't seem to be much better and stiffly bowed towards the crowd without saying a word. The stunning woman he had seen earlier stood up and seemed to have a wicked look in her eyes. She looked between the red head, Ariel and the spiky hired man. Liam didn't like that look on her face, and wondered what was going on.  
  
"Well hellooo there," the woman said in a sultry tone. She sauntered over to the smaller man and tentively rubbed her hands on his back. "Aren't you a handsome one."  
  
"Ah!" he exclaimed and the woman laughed as she continued her ministrations. She saw the smaller man tense in discomfort, as her favorite two to torment bristled and became at least three shades of red. A wicked smile met her face and she hugged Liam from behind.  
  
"Hello Li-san." the woman said in all too sweet tone that made Liam sweat.  
  
Liam started to slowly wriggle his way out of the fox like woman's grasp as Ariel and the spiky haired man seemed to get even more annoyed. Liam had a feeling the fox like woman was enjoying every minute of this. The next thing she did made Liam even more uncomfortable. She placed her hand on his cheek  
  
"Aie!" he exclaimed and the woman laughed, but did not stop her actions. The spiky haired man seemed even more upset.  
  
"Oy Fox-woman!" the dark haired man stated as he saw his "girlfriend" making moves on the man that came in with Ariel. As much as he liked Asa, some things about her really unnerved him, like how she was draped across the red haired runt that he had seen with Ariel at school. Don knew Asa wasn't serious about the shorty, but he couldn't help but feel a bit jealous and annoyed. Although he couldn't say the same for the little missy, who was even less tolerant of her teasing then he was.  
  
"Asa-san!" Ariel exclaimed with her face an unnatural shade of red. She picked up a conveniently displayed shinai.  
  
"Now what's the matter Tanuki-san, don't tell me you're jealous."  
  
" What?" Ariel growled in response to her 'frienemy's' taunt. She hardly even knew the guy, how could she be jealous, although something inside told her otherwise, "Of course not!" Ariel exclaimed in frustration and Asa smiled. "Just let him go!"   
  
The woman pulled the man even closer to him as she watched the scene around her, "No, I think I like him, and I don't want to let him go...Little raccoon."  
  
With the shinai still in hand Ariel thought of ways she could 'discipline' the nurse. However, before she could do much harm, a fleeting thought of how familiar Asa's actions had been echoed in her mind and her eyes fogged over. She didn't notice the similar loss of conscious thought in Asa's, Liam's, and Don's faces.  
  
The girl from before, a boy who looked like Alois, and Donovan stood around on the porch of an old dojo, with a red haired man on the floor.  
  
"Umm...Takani san was it?" Stated Kaoru, "I'm sorry I'll have a good talk with him, you can go home."  
  
Rather then listening, the woman who looked surprisingly like Asa walked towards the man lying comatose on the floor. She picked him up and draped her arms around him.  
  
"Oh," she stated mischieviously, "I have no intention of leaving." She put her hand on his cheek, "I think I like this man. I couldn't leave him for a moment."  
  
"EEEP!" Kaoru covered her mouth in surprise, and the woman placed her hand on the scarred cheek.   
  
Through his dizziness, Kenshin couldn't say much.  
  
"I'm much better then that sweaty girl...Aren't I Ken-san?" The dark haired woman said in suspiciously sweet tone.  
  
Liam, Asa, Ariel, and Donovan shook their heads as the fog cleared from their minds. The fox like woman put her hand on her forehead and stumbled back a little. Not quite out of their stupor from the vision, Donovan, Ariel, and Liam hadn't noticed. However, after they had been released from it and started questioning what they saw, they noticed the woman fall back. Their thoughts were momentarily forgotten. Forgetting her anger, and the vision Ariel hurried over to the woman and placed her hand on the older woman's shoulder.  
  
"Asa!"  
  
However, having her pride Asa quickly pulled away and straightened her mussed up appearence. "I'm perfectly fine Tanuki-san. Now just introduce your friend to the rest of the people in here."   
  
Ariel was silent for a minute when, Asa stuck up her nose, and pushed the girl away. "Just do it tanuki!"  
  
"Ah!" Ariel seemed to ignore the comment, and was seemingly lost at what to do before her friend Kali came to the rescue.  
  
"How do you do? I'm Kali!" The girl exclaimed as she held out her hand to shake Ariel's companion. The crimson haired man smiled and nodded his head before shaking her hand. There was a spark as they shook, and Kenshin suddenly thought she looked very familiar.   
  
The older man who had been speaking lewd comments earlier, stood up proudly and held out his hand.   
  
"How do you do son?" he asked pleasantly. There was a spark here as well, and as before, Kenshin felt as if he had met this man sometime in the past.   
  
"Yo!" the spiky haired exclaimed, "Name's Don, and the brat, I mean KID over there's my 'baby' brother," The 'kid' in question was Alois, and he puffed up his chest in pride, before throwing something at that older man and jumping on his back.  
  
"The name's Alois!" he exclaimed, the boy jumped on his older brother, "I'm no kid! I'm 13 years old!"   
  
"Hey get off of me!" Donovan exclaimed, as the boy bit his shoulder and head, "What are you some kind of monkey!"   
  
He tried to knock off the 13 year old, but the boy was as clingy as a leech when he was arguing with his older brother. The two continued their antics and Liam looked back and forth with confusion in his eyes, and Ariel quirked her eyebrow.   
  
"Don't mind them Liam," she bit out, "They're always like that."   
  
"Aa," Liam stated, "But he looks familiar." then looking around the room Liam realized that everyone in that room seemed familiar, "Everyone in here looks so familiar, but I've been in Europe all my life, so I couldn't have possibly met any of them." Ariel and Kali heard him, and looked at each other for a long moment, seeming to come to a silent agreement. The smaller girl stepped forward and smiled.  
  
"You never know," Kali stated, "Throughout eternity, there are those who are always entwined in the sands of time and destiny."   
  
Donovan and Alois had since gotten over their bickering, and they as well as everyone else heard Kali's bizarre statement. They looked at her strangely, and the room became surprisingly quiet for a moment. Noticing this Kali shrugged, it seemed like her "Aoshi-sama" had rubbed off on her. He didn't speak much, but when he did, he often used wise or philosophical statements. They "That's what Aric-sama tells me anyways!"  
  
After she said that everyone murmured and nodded, and Ariel stepped up and smiled. There was someone hiding behind her, and the woman pulled a very pretty young girl to her side. The small girl looked at Ariel hesitantly, and the woman gave her an encouraging shove after she whispered something to the child.  
  
The girl walked towards Liam with her hand curled in Ariel's, "Hi," she whispered, "I'm...Cathryn."  
  
Liam smiled as he lowered his body just a little and patted the girl's head. She blushed in embarrassment before putting her face in Ariel's arm. "How do you do?" he asked pleasantly, and the girl removed her face from Ariel's arm before nodding quietly, "Are you Ariel's sister?" he asked, and the girl shook her head before letting go of the woman's ," the girl stuttered, "She helps me to be stronger."  
  
"Well," Liam said with a sweet smile on his face, "I'm pleased to meet you Cathyrn-chan. I'm Sedgwick, Liam. But I would prefer you to call me Liam."  
  
The shy girl smiled brightly before nodding her head.  
  
The introductions continued, and by the end of the party, Liam knew everyone's name, and at least one thing about them. There were some he felt particularly close to. These were ones such as Ariel, Alois, Donovan, and Asa. He noticed their different mannerisms, and how they were so familiar, while others weren't. This made him think back to his day, particularly the vision he had earlier. The mannerisms of Ariel and Asa were similar to the ones displayed by the girl's in the vision. For some reason, Kali's earlier words lodged themselves in his mind, and he wondered about the 'silent moment' between her an Ariel. He felt that both girls' would be a very important link into discovering something.  
  
Little did Liam know, that a few others in the room, were thinking about the exact same thing.   
  
(to be continued  
  
17 k! I guess that's what happens when the inspiration hits but still, before I worked on this yesterday, it was 9k!  
  
Anyhow, I hope the chapter wasn't too confusing, and was decent sounding. There were a lot of different things in it, and I'm not sure how they flowed together. Please review and make suggestions and/or tell me what you thought of it?   
  
Oh yeah, and a reviewer recommended a beta, while another wanted more KK moments. For the first question...Any volunteers? And for the second, don't worry, these Akabeko chapters were just away for everyone to meet, now that it's settled there will be more KK moments. 


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